Dictionary

semipermanent en · ADJ

Etymology

From semi- + permanent.

Meanings

1. Neither temporary nor entirely permanent; of indefinite duration.
   • Although tens of thousands of refugees now live in semipermanent camps along the Thai border with Myanmar, some of them are periodically forced back against their will. 2009 January 18, Seth Mydans, “Thailand Is Accused of Rejecting Migrants”, in New York Times:
   • We are not at all permanent collections of particles. It is the patterns of matter and energy that are semipermanent (that is, changing only gradually), but our actual material content is changing constantly, and very quickly. 1999, Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines, New York: Viking, →ISBN, page 54:
   • Such movable insulation could be applied to the end walls, either in the form of insulating shutters or a more semipermanent arrangement such as the one I use on the north roof of my pit. 1997, Greg Stone, Building a Solar-Heated Pit Greenhouse: Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin A-37:

Forms

Relateds

semipermanence · semipermanently