N. transience, transientness, evanescence, impermanence, fugacity, caducity, mortality, span, nine days' wonder, bubble, mayfly, spurt, flash in the pan, temporary arrangement, interregnum, velocity, suddenness, changeableness, transient, transient boarder, transient guest

V. be transient, flit, pass away, fly, gallop, vanish, fade, evaporate, pass away like a cloud, pass away like a summer cloud, pass away like a shadow, pass away like a dream

Adj. transient, transitory, transitive, passing, evanescent, fleeting, cursory, short-lived, ephemeral, flying, fugacious, fugitive, shifting, slippery, spasmodic, instantaneous, momentaneous, temporal, temporary, provisional, provisory, deciduous, perishable, mortal, precarious, unstable, insecure, impermanent, brief, quick, brisk, extemporaneous, summary, pressed for time, sudden, momentary

Adv. temporarily, pro tempore, for the moment, for a time, awhile, en passant, in transitu, in a short time, soon, briefly, at short notice, on the point of, on the eve of, in articulo, between cup and lip

Phr. one's days are numbered, the time is up, here today and gone tomorrow, non semper erit aestas, eheu, fugaces labuntur anni, sic transit gloria mundi, a schoolboy's tale, the wonder of the hour, [Byron], dum loquimur fugerit invidia aetas, fugit hora, all that is transitory is but an illusion

N. smoothness, polish, gloss, lubricity, lubrication, down, velvet, velure, silk, satin, velveteen, velour, velours, velumen, glass, ice, slide, bowling green, asphalt, wood pavement, flagstone, flags, roller, steam roller, lawn roller, rolling pin, rolling mill, sand paper, emery paper, emery cloth, sander, flat iron, sad iron, burnisher, turpentine and beeswax, polish, shoe polish, lapidary, lapidary, lapidarian

V. smooth, smoothen, plane, file, mow, shave, level, roll, macadamize, polish, burnish, calender, glaze, iron, hot-press, mangle, lubricate

Adj. smooth, polished, leiodermatous, slick, velutinous, even, level, plane, sleek, glossy, silken, silky, lanate, downy, velvety, glabrous, slippery, glassy, lubricous, oily, soft, unwrinkled, smooth as glass, smooth as ice, smooth as monumental alabaster, smooth as velvet, smooth as oil, slippery as an eel, woolly

Phr. smooth as silk, slippery as coonshit on a pump handle, slippery as a greased pig

N. unctuousness, unctuosity, # lubricity, ointment, anointment, lubrication

V. oil

Adj. unctuous, oily, oleaginous, adipose, sebaceous, unguinous, fat, fatty, greasy, waxy, butyraceous, soapy, saponaceous, pinguid, lardaceous, slippery

N. uncertainty, incertitude, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubitation, dubitancy|, dubitousness, hesitation, suspense, perplexity, embarrassment, dilemma, bewilderment, timidity, vacillation, diaporesis, indetermination, vagueness, haze, fog, obscurity, ambiguity, contingency, dependence, dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility, open question, onus probandi, blind bargain, pig in a poke, leap in the dark, something or other, needle in a haystack, needle in a bottle of hay, roving commission, precariousness, fallibility

V. be uncertain, wonder whether, lose the clue, lose the clew, scent, miss one's way, not know what to make of, not know which way to turn, not know whether one stands on one's head or one's heels, float in a sea of doubt, hesitate, flounder, lose oneself, lose one's head, muddle one's brains, render uncertain, put out, pose, puzzle, perplex, embarrass, confuse, confound, bewilder, bother, molder, addle the wits, throw off the scent, ambiguas in vulgus spargere voces, keep in suspense, doubt, hang in the balance, tremble in the balance, depend

Adj. uncertain, casual, random, changeable, doubtful, dubious, indecisive, unsettled, undecided, undetermined, in suspense, open to discussion, controvertible, in question, vague, indeterminate, indefinite, ambiguous, equivocal, undefined, undefinable, confused, mystic, oracular, dazed, perplexing, enigmatic, paradoxical, apocryphal, problematical, hypothetical, experimental, unpredictable, unforeseeable (unknowable) 519, fallible, questionable, precarious, slippery, ticklish, debatable, disputable, unreliable, untrustworthy, contingent, contingent on, dependent on, subject to, dependent on circumstances, occasional, provisional, unauthentic, unauthenticated, unauthoritative, unascertained, unconfirmed, undemonstrated, untold, uncounted, in a state of uncertainty, in a cloud, in a maze, bushed, off the track, ignorant, &c. 491, afraid to say, out of one's reckoning, astray, adrift, at sea, at fault, at a loss, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, puzzled, lost, abroad, dsorient, distracted, distraught

Adv. pendente lite, sub spe rati

Phr. heaven knows, who can tell? who shall decide when doctors disagree? ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces

N. danger, peril, insecurity, jeopardy, risk, hazard, venture, precariousness, slipperiness, instability, defenselessness &c

V. be in danger, be exposed to danger, run into danger, incur danger, encounter danger, run a risk, lay oneself open to, lean on a broken reed, trust to a broken reed, feel the ground sliding from under one, have to run for it, have the chances against one, have the odds against one, face long odds, be in deep trouble, be between a rock and a hard place, hang by a thread, totter, sleep on a volcano, stand on a volcano, sit on a barrel of gunpowder, live in a glass house, bring in danger, place in danger, put in danger, place in jeopardy, put in jeopardy, endanger, expose to danger, imperil, jeopard, jeopardize, compromise, sail too near the wind, adventure, risk, hazard, venture, stake, set at hazard, run the gauntlet, engage in a forlorn hope, threaten danger, run one hard, lay a trap for

Adj. in danger, exposure, endangered, vulnerability, fraught with danger, vulnerable point, dangerous, heel of achilles, hazardous, forlorn hope, perilous, leap in the dark, parlous, road to ruin, periculous|, faciles descensus averni, unsafe, hairbreadth escape, unprotected &c. (safe, protect ), cause for alarm, insecure, source of danger, untrustworthy, rock ahead, built upon sand, breakers ahead, on a sandy basis, storm brewing, wildcat, clouds in the horizon, defenseless, clouds gathering, fenceless, warning, guardless, alarm, harborless, apprehension, unshielded, vulnerable, expugnable, exposed, open to, aux abois, at bay, on the wrong side of the wall, on a lee shore, on the rocks, at stake, in question, precarious, critical, ticklish, slippery, slippy, hanging by a thread, with a halter round one's neck, between the hammer and the anvil, between scylla and charybdis, between a rock and a hard place, between the devil and the deep blue sea, between two fires, on the edge of a precipice, on the brink of a precipice, on the verge of a precipice, on the edge of a volcano, in the lion's den, on slippery ground, under fire, not out of the wood, unwarned, unadmonished, unadvised, unprepared, off one's guard, tottering, unstable, unsteady, shaky, top-heavy, tumbledown, ramshackle, crumbling, waterlogged, helpless, guideless, in a bad way, reduced to the last extremity, at the last extremity, trembling in the balance, nodding to its fall, threatening, ominous, illomened, alarming, explosive, adventurous, (bold) 861

Phr. incidit in scyllam qui vult vitare charybdim, nam tua res agitur paries dum proximus ardet

N. facility, ease, easiness, capability, feasibility, flexibility, pliancy, smoothness, plain sailing, smooth sailing, straight sailing, mere child's play, holiday task, cinch, smooth water, fair wind, smooth royal road, clear coast, clear stage, tabula rasa, full play, disencumbrance, disentanglement, deoppilation|, permission, simplicity, lack of complication

V. be easy, go on smoothly, run smoothly, have full play, go on all fours, run on all fours, obey the helm, work well, flow with the stream, swim with the stream, drift with the stream, go with the stream, flow with the tide, drift with the tide, see one's way, have all one's own way, have the game in one's own hands, walk over the course, win at a canter, make light of, make nothing of, make no bones of, be at home in, make it look easy, do it with one's eyes closed, do it in one's sleep, render easy, facilitate, smooth, ease, popularize, lighten, lighten the labor, free, clear, disencumber, disembarrass, disentangle, disengage, deobstruct, unclog, extricate, unravel, untie the knot, cut the knot, disburden, unload, exonerate, emancipate, free from, deoppilate|, humor, lubricate, relieve, leave a hole to creep out of, leave a loophole, leave the matter open, give the reins to, give full play, give full swing, make way for, open the door to, open the way, prepare the ground, smooth the ground, clear the ground, open the way, open the path, open the road, pave the way, bridge over, permit

Adj. easy, facile, feasible, easily managed, easily accomplished, within reach, accessible, easy of access, for the million, open to, manageable, wieldy, towardly, tractable, submissive, yielding, ductile, suant, pliant, glib, slippery, smooth, on friction wheels, on velvet, unembarrassed, disburdened, unburdened, disencumbered, unencumbered, disembarrassed, exonerated, unloaded, unobstructed, untrammeled, unrestrained, at ease, light, at home with, quite at home, in one's element, in smooth water, skillful, accustomed

Adv. easily, readily, smoothly, swimmingly, on easy terms, single-handed

Phr. touch and go, 2, active antagonism

N. improbity, dishonesty, dishonor, deviation from rectitude, disgrace, fraud, lying, bad faith, punic faith, mala fides, punica fides, infidelity, faithlessness, judas kiss, betrayal, breach of promise, breach of trust, breach of faith, prodition|, disloyalty, treason, high treason, apostasy, nonobservance, shabbiness, villainy, villany, baseness, abjection, debasement, turpitude, moral turpitude, laxity, trimming, shuffling, perfidy, perfidiousness, treachery, double dealing, unfairness, knavery, roguery, rascality, foul play, jobbing, jobbery, graft, bribery, venality, nepotism, corruption, job, shuffle, fishy transaction, barratry, sharp practice, heads i win tails you lose, mouth honor

V. be dishonest, play false, break one's word, break one's faith, break one's promise, jilt, betray, forswear, shuffle, live by one's wits, sail near the wind, disgrace oneself, dishonor oneself, demean oneself, derogate, stoop, grovel, sneak, lose caste, sell oneself, go over to the enemy, seal one's infamy

Adj. dishonest, dishonorable, unconscientious, unscrupulous, fraudulent, knavish, disgraceful, wicked, false-hearted, disingenuous, unfair, one-sided, double, double- hearted, double-tongued, double-faced, timeserving, crooked, tortuous, insidious, machiavelian, dark, slippery, fishy, perfidious, treacherous, perjured, infamous, arrant, foul, base, vile, ignominious, blackguard, contemptible, unrespectable, abject, mean, shabby, little, paltry, dirty, scurvy, scabby, sneaking, groveling, scrubby, rascally, pettifogging, beneath one, low-minded, low-thoughted, base-minded, undignified, indign|, unbecoming, unbeseeming, unbefitting, derogatory, degrading, infra dignitatem, ungentlemanly, ungentlemanlike, unknightly, unchivalric, unmanly, unhandsome, recreant, inglorious, corrupt, venal, debased, mongrel, faithless, of bad faith, false, unfaithful, disloyal, untrustworthy, trustless, trothless, lost to shame, dead to honor, barratrous

Adv. dishonestly, mala fide, like a thief in the night, by crooked paths

Phr. corruptissima respublica plurimae leges

Int. o tempora, o mores, [Cicero]