different between fleeting vs shifting

English

Etymology

From Middle English fleten (“to float”), from Old English fl?otan (“to float”), from Proto-Germanic *fleutan?, from Proto-Indo-European *plewd-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fli?t??/

Adjective

fleeting (comparative more fleeting, superlative most fleeting)

1. Passing quickly; of short duration.
   • 1931, Martha Kinross, "The Screen — From This Side", The Fortnightly, Volume 130, page 511:

     Architecture, sculpture, painting are static arts. Even in literature "our flying minds," as George Meredith says, cannot contain protracted description. It is so; for from sequences of words they must assemble all the details in one simultaneous impression. But moments of fleeting beauty too transient to be caught by any means less swift than light itself are registered on the screen.

   • 2003, Gabrielle Walker, Snowball Earth: The Story of a Maverick Scientist and His Theory of the Global Catastrophe That Spawned Life As We Know It, Three Rivers Press (2003), ?ISBN, pages 34-35:

     During the fleeting summer months of his field season, when the outer vestiges of winter melted briefly, there were ponds and pools and lakes of water everywhere.

   • 2008, Barbara L. Bellman & Susan Goldstein, Flirting After Fifty: Lessons for Grown-Up Women on How to Find Love Again, iUniverse (2008), ?ISBN, page 12:

     For starters, we see examples all the time of some middle-aged men trying to hang onto their own fleeting youth by sporting younger women on their arms.

   • 2010, Leslie Ludy, The Lost Art of True Beauty: The Set-Apart Girl's Guide to Feminine Grace, Harvest House Publishers (2010), ?ISBN, page 5:

     And I am inspired afresh to pursue the stunning beauty of Christ rather than the fleeting beauty of this world.

Synonyms

• ephemeral
• See also Thesaurus:ephemeral.

Translations

Usage notes

Often used with nouns indicating mental, perceptual, or emotional states, such as: "a fleeting thought", "a fleeting glimpse" "a fleeting impression", "a fleeting hope", or to indicate that the shortness of duration might be regretted : "fleeting beauty", "fleeting youth".

Verb

fleeting

1. present participle of fleet

English

Noun

shifting (plural shiftings)

1. A shift or change; a shifting movement.
   • 1811, Charles Lamb, On the Tragedies of Shakespeare Considered with Reference to their Fitness for Stage Representation

     I remember the last time I saw Macbeth played, the discrepancy I felt at the changes of garment which he varied, the shiftings and reshiftings, like a Romish priest at mass.

   • 1978, Jack Vance, The View from Chickweed's Window

     Then everyone moved at the same time — slight shiftings of the hands and feet, furtive easings of position.

2. (linguistics) The phenomenon by which two or more constituents appearing on the same side of their common head exchange positions to obtain non-canonical order.

Derived terms

• gear-shifting

Verb

shifting

1. present participle of shift

Anagrams

• infights