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deciduous - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Latin dēciduus (“falling down or off”), from dēcidō (“to fall down”).

deciduous (not comparable)

  1. (biology, anatomy) Describing a part that falls off, or is shed, at a particular time or stage of development.

    • 1911, Richard Lydekker, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Equidae:

      In the Hippoidea there is generally the full series of 44 teeth, but the first premolar is often deciduous or wanting in the lower or in both jaws.

    Antonyms: persistent, permanent
  2. (botany) Of or pertaining to trees which lose their leaves in winter or the dry season.
    Antonyms: evergreen, sempervirent
    Synonym: perdifoil. Compare caducous.

    a deciduous tree

  3. (figurative) Transitory, ephemeral, not lasting.(Can we add an example for this sense?)

describing a part that falls off, or is shed

of or pertaining to trees which lose their leaves in winter or the dry season

transitory, ephemeral, not lasting