intransitive verb

American  

noun

1. a verb that indicates a complete action without being accompanied by a direct object, as sit or lie, and, in English, that does not form a passive.

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intransitive verb Cultural  

1. A verb that does not need a direct object to complete its meaning. Run, sleep, travel, wonder, and die are all intransitive verbs. (Compare transitive verb.)

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Discover More

Some verbs can be intransitive in one sentence and transitive in another. Boiled is intransitive in “My blood boiled” but transitive in “I boiled some water.”

Etymology

Origin of intransitive verb

First recorded in 1605–15

Compare meaning

How does intransitive-verb compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• transitive verb vs. intransitive verb

Example Sentences

“To bald” may not be a common intransitive verb, but that has not prevented “balding” from entering the language as a participle.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 2, 2019

So what the critics really meant is that the Times erred in using an intransitive verb.

From Economist • May 24, 2018

Fratch, which is defined as "dispute; quarrel," and which is dialectal English in origin ... is used both as intransitive verb and noun.

From Time Magazine Archive

An intransitive verb expresses an action confined to the actor, as:—Johano dormas = John sleeps, or, is sleeping.

From The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Grammar and Commentary by Cox, George

Mi di, e.g., “man this, the man” is an absolutive form which may be used as the subject of an intransitive verb.

From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Sapir, Edward