Ephemeral

 WORD OF THE DAY

ephemeral / adjective / ih-FEM-uh-rul

Definition
1: lasting a very short time
2: lasting one day only

Examples
"The varieties available at the plant sale include spring ephemeral wildflowers, which bloom a short period of time in the spring…."
— Cris Belle, WJW Fox 8 News (Cleveland, Ohio), 2 May 2022

This accounts for the peculiar sense most observers have that the ephemeral, sensationalist, polymorphous, magpie popular culture of the United States is at bottom remarkably conservative …
— Louis Menand, Harper's, March 1993

Did You Know?
In its aquatic immature stages, the mayfly (order Ephemeroptera) has all the time in the world—or not quite: among the approximately 2,500 species of mayflies, some have as much as two years, but a year is more common.
But in its adult phase, the typical mayfly hatches, takes wing for the first time, mates, and dies within the span of a few short hours. This briefest of heydays makes the insect a potent symbol of life's ephemeral nature.
When ephemeral (from the Greek word ephēmeros, meaning "lasting a day") first appeared in print in English in the late 16th century, it was a scientific term applied to short-term fevers, and later, to organisms (such as insects and flowers) with very short life spans.
Soon after that, it acquired an extended sense referring to anything fleeting and short-lived, as in "ephemeral pleasures."

Commemorate

 WORD OF THE DAY

commemorate / verb / kuh-MEM-uh-rayt

Definition
1: to call to remembrance
2a: to mark by some ceremony or observation
2b: observe
3: to serve as a memorial of

Examples
"Set to be unveiled this fall in the West End's Laurel Park, the bronze statue and plaza will commemorate the life and legacy of Cincinnati's world heavyweight boxing champion, Ezzard Charles."
— Sharon Coolidge, The Cincinnati Enquirer, 20 Apr. 2022

The astronauts wore stainless steel Omega Speedmasters during their trip, and the Swiss watchmaker issued a limited edition of 1,014 gold watches to commemorate their safe return.
— Tori Latham, Robb Report, 16 May 2022

Did You Know?
When you remember something, you are mindful of it. It's appropriate, therefore, that commemorate and other related memory-associated words (including memorable, memorial, remember, and memory itself) come from the Latin root memor, meaning "mindful."
English speakers have been marking the memory of important events with commemorate since the late 16th century.

Uncanny

 WORD OF THE DAY

uncanny / adjective / un-KAN-ee

Definition
1a: seeming to have a supernatural character or origin
1b: eerie, mysterious
1c: being beyond what is normal or expected
1d: suggesting superhuman or supernatural powers
2 (chiefly Scotland): severe, punishing

Examples
"Having reinvented contemporary circus as an aesthetically ambitious artform, the company here demonstrates ... what can be achieved when uncanny acrobatic prowess meets the poised spatial intelligence of contemporary dance and the intensities of physical theatre."
— Andrew Fuhrmann, Cameron Woodhead, and Jessica Nicholas, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 10 Apr. 2022

That uncanny ability led to the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Detroit native collecting nine total interceptions – including returning two for touchdowns – and not allowing a receiving touchdown during his three-year Cincinnati career.
— Keith Jenkins, The Enquirer, 26 Apr. 2022

Did You Know?
Weird and eerie are synonyms of uncanny, but there are subtle differences in the meanings of the three words.
Weird may be used to describe something that is generally strange or out of the ordinary.
Eerie suggests an uneasy or fearful consciousness that some kind of mysterious and malign powers are at work, while uncanny, which debuted in the 18th century, implies disquieting strangeness or mysteriousness.
English also has a word canny, but canny and uncanny should not be interpreted as opposites.
Canny, which first appeared in English in the 16th century, means "clever," "shrewd," or "prudent," as in "a canny lawyer" or "a canny investment."