The meaning of the word “temporary” attracts attention because a lot in our life can be defined by them: work, relationships, hobbies - everything can be both short and long. Today we will analyze the meaning of the word, synonyms, antonyms and give examples.
Meaning
The Explanatory Dictionary offers the following meaning: “Intermittent, being, or acting for some time.”
Almost everyone seems to understand the meaning of the adjective now. People no longer dream of working in one place for 20 years or more. They live from project to project. "Project" is now called almost everything. Moreover, for greater importance, men and women insert this word in any context.
Of course, we do not insist on such an interpretation, but the definition of "project" in its essence contains a hint of short duration. That is, it would never occur to anyone in the modern world that any project is an education for 20 years, on the contrary, everyone is sure that this is temporary work.
No one now makes plans for 30 years ahead, and not only because “a person is suddenly mortal,” no one really realizes this, but because the world is extremely changeable, and it’s pointless to dream of what will happen in the distant future. , it is necessary to solve today's problems. In other words, the meaning of the word “temporary” permeates a person’s entire life, whether he is aware of it or not.
Synonyms
After the definition of the word “temporary” is left behind, it is time to turn to synonyms. What can replace an adjective when such a need arose? The words that can replace the considered include:
- minute;
- fleeting;
- perishable;
- fragile;
- unreliable;
- fleeting;
- fickle;
- short;
- transient.
As you can see, there is plenty to choose from. Naturally, each synonym has its own stylistic features, for example, it is better to say “unreliable” or “fragile” rather than “fleeting” about temporary overlap. The last may be a holiday romance. In other words, substitutions must be carefully chosen, taking into account the requirements of the context and style. Russian (and any) language does not endure fuss.
About the insidiousness of constancy
It is easy to choose antonyms for the meaning of the word “temporary” - it is “permanent” or “eternal” (about it a little later). The most interesting thing is that such seemingly simple adjectives also have a moral connotation. Temporary is almost always bad, and what is permanent is good.
It is unnecessary to give examples, because they are well known to everyone.
But look at a well-known pair of definitions from the other side. Change is the basis of life, if a person were told: "Hello, nice to meet you, here is your workplace for the next 20 years," then he would probably howl. In this form, constant work is like hell. The reader will say that this is unfair! Most people even now in one place try to stay as long as possible.
The reader, as always, is right, but the fact is that every day a person makes a choice whether to work or not. After all, he can quit work at any time, but he does not leave it for external and internal reasons. But if a specialist were deprived of his freedom, he would immediately have escaped from such working conditions.
When it comes to employment, and a person says: “These are not my constant earnings, so, part-time jobs,” then not only the realities of life dictate to him what to do, but he himself is quite able to choose where to move on.
The adjective "eternal"
If we are already discussing the meaning of the word “temporary,” then we cannot help but say about the “eternal.”
With constant in the world there are interruptions. And it seems that has always been so. Rarely did anyone manage to do the same thing throughout their lives. Even the writers, those whom we love so much, had different lives. Therefore, we will not console ourselves with hopes; there is no eternal in earthly life, but there is a word! Therefore, here we will also need the help of an explanatory dictionary so that an error does not happen.
So these are the meanings:
- Existing for centuries: permafrost, eternal ice .
- Same as perpetual: the team was able to pick up the cup for eternal storage .
- That which is constantly repeated, habitual, everlasting : he always sings in his soul .
A person understands the “eternal” as intravital, if not to invade the territory of religious debate. That is, if a man put, for example, a faucet in the kitchen and a plumber tells him that the unit is eternal, then this means: it will last for many years. The device can, of course, survive to grandchildren, but hardly.
Or, for example, a teenager listens to hard rock, and parents think: “It will be forever!” But next year, the boy switched to Bach, which indescribably pleases relatives.
Is there a confrontation between the temporary and the eternal?
In the language there is such a contrast as a synonym and antonym. In life, as a rule, everything is more complicated, because it is difficult to vouch for tomorrow. Sometimes people work at the enterprise for years, and then it all ends, and the eternal turns into temporary. But it happens the other way around: a person wants to wait out the storm in some quiet harbor, finds a temporary part-time job, and then it transforms into the work of a whole life by vocation or by fact.
The advantage of short-term employment is that it involves constant search, development. Thanks to the movement, life does not become a swamp, does not stagnate.
Stability has its advantages: confidence in the future, calm, certainty.
And despite the fact that the words “temporary” and “permanent”, “eternal” are divorced in the language, the reader himself is free to make a choice in favor of one or the other.