short-lived

short-lived

English

Alternative forms

• shortlived

Etymology

From short + life + -ed.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ʃɔɹtˈlɪvd/, /ʃɔɹtˈlaɪvd/; see usage notes below

Adjective

short-lived (comparative shorter-lived, superlative shortest-lived)

1. Alive or existent for only a short period of time.

   But his joy was short-lived, for his fortunes soon changed.

Usage notes

• The pronunciation /ʃɔɹtˈlaɪvd/ (the second syllable rhyming with hived) is more consistent with the etymology (since the term comes from the noun life rather than the verb live), and was formerly more common; however, the pronunciation /ʃɔɹtˈlɪvd/ (the second syllable pronounced as the verb lived) is more common today.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ephemeral

Related terms

• brief
• fleeting
• momentary

Translations

not existent for very long

Finnish: lyhytikäinen, lyhytkestoinen German: kurzlebig (de) Greek: Ancient: ὀλιγόβιος (oligóbios), βραχύβιος (brakhúbios) Irish: díomuan, duthain, gearrshaolach Maori: rangitahi

Norwegian: Bokmål: kortlivet Nynorsk: kortliva Serbo-Croatian: krȁtkotrājan (sh) Swedish: kortlivad (sv), kortvarig (sv)