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Definition of transient : 1. Hasty; momentary; imperfect; brief; as, a transient view of a landscape.
2. Passing before the sight or perception, or, as it were, moving over or across a space or scene viewed, and then disappearing; hence, of short duration; not permanent; not lasting or durable; not stationary; passing; fleeting; brief; transitory; as, transient pleasure.
3. Staying for a short time; not regular or permanent; as, a transient guest; transient boarders.
4. That which remains but for a brief time.

Synonyms:

inconstant, moving, down-and-out, casual, short, gypsy, fugitive, bum, floating, flotsam, street people, bag lady, fleet, stateless, flash, hobo, variable, homeless, deciduous, fugacious, provisional, continue, transeunt, derelict, pass, flying, perfunctory, time

flickering, passing, temporal, shifting, transitory, fleeting, evanescent, mortal, short-term, brief, temporary, impermanent, mutable, flitting, cursory, restless, fading, short-lived, momentary, fickle, instantaneous, volatile, ephemeral, changeable, rootless

traveling, roaming, trekking, wayfaring, nomadic, roving, journeying, drifting

rover, voyager, drifter, tourist, traveler, nomad, wayfarer, passenger, vagrant, trekker, vagabond, journeyer

Usage examples:

• Thus it came to pass that his movement of pity towards Sally Oates, which had given him a transient sense of brotherhood, heightened the repulsion between him and his neighbours, and made his isolation more complete. - "Silas Marner The Weaver of Raveloe", George Eliot.
• All forms of human doom Arouse but transient thoughts of joy or gloom. - "Laments", Jan Kochanowski.
• Still I did not, could not, summon courage to lay bare my inmost thoughts, and to beg a boon that in these moments of transient humility I feared I never should be worthy to possess. - "The Monikins", J. Fenimore Cooper.