Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

transitive

Pronunciation: /ˈtransɪtɪv, ˈtrɑːns-, -nz-/
Translate transitive | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of transitive

adjective

  • 1 Grammar (of a verb or a sense or use of a verb) able to take a direct object (expressed or implied), e.g. saw in he saw the donkey. The opposite of intransitive.
  • 2 Logic & Mathematics (of a relation) such that, if it applies between successive members of a sequence, it must also apply between any two members taken in order. For instance, if A is larger than B, and B is larger than C, then A is larger than C.

Derivatives

transitively

adverb

transitiveness

noun

transitivity

Pronunciation: /-ˈtɪvɪti/
noun

Origin:

mid 16th century (in the sense 'transitory'): from late Latin transitivus, from transit- 'gone across' (see transit)

transitive in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of transitive in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

More words in this category

Word of the day

ludology

/ luːˈdɒlədʒi /
noun
the study of games and gaming, especially video games …