transmit
Americanverb (used with object)
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transmits,
present (3rd person singular)
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transmitted,
past participle, past
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transmitting
present participle
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to send or forward, as to a recipient or destination; dispatch; convey.
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to communicate, as information or news.
- Synonyms:
- bear
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to pass or spread (disease, infection, etc.) to another.
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to pass on (a genetic characteristic) from parent to offspring.
The mother transmitted her red hair to her daughter.
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Physics.
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to cause (light, heat, sound, etc.) to pass through a medium.
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to convey or pass along (an impulse, force, motion, etc.).
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to permit (light, heat, etc.) to pass through.
Glass transmits light.
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Radio and Television. to emit (electromagnetic waves).
verb (used without object)
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transmits,
present (3rd person singular)
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transmitted,
past participle, past
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transmitting
present participle
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to send a signal by wire, radio, or television waves.
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to pass on a right or obligation to heirs or descendants.
verb
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(tr) to pass or cause to go from one place or person to another; transfer
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(tr) to pass on or impart (a disease, infection, etc)
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(tr) to hand down to posterity
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(tr; usually passive) to pass (an inheritable characteristic) from parent to offspring
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to allow the passage of (particles, energy, etc)
radio waves are transmitted through the atmosphere
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to send out (signals) by means of radio waves or along a transmission line
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to broadcast (a radio or television programme)
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(tr) to transfer (a force, motion, power, etc) from one part of a mechanical system to another
Synonym Usage
See carry.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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transmittalnoun
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pretransmitverb (used with object)
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retransmitverb (used with object)
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nontransmittibleadjective
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transmittableadjective
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transmittibleadjective
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untransmittedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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transmitsimple
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transmitssimple
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have transmittedperfect
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has transmittedperfect
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am transmittingprogressive
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are transmittingprogressive
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is transmittingprogressive
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have been transmittingperfect progressive
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has been transmittingperfect progressive
Past
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transmittedsimple
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had transmittedperfect
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was transmittingprogressive
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were transmittingprogressive
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had been transmittingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of transmit
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English transmitten, from Latin trānsmittere “to send across,” from trāns- trans- + mittere “to send”
Explanation
If you’re an international spy, you might transmit secret messages using a special code written in invisible ink. If you aren’t a spy, you could probably just use email. Whatever your circumstances, when you transmit information, you send. You can transmit things from person to person or from one thing to another. The airwaves can be used to transmit radio or TV signals, for example, and computers can transmit messages over a network. This verb often describes messages or data being sent, but you can also transmit ideas, beliefs, or attitude. In addition, transmit can describe the spread of disease, like mosquitoes that can transmit disease when they bite.
Vocabulary lists containing transmit
Tier 2 Words for the SBAC ELA Items
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Send a Message: Mit and Miss
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“The badly written letter of Andrés López Beltrán doesn’t transmit indignation,” wrote Denise Dresser, a columnist and frequentSheinbaum administration critic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
It also said its terms and conditions make clear that radio signals may be intercepted, and it advises customers not to transmit sensitive or personal information over radio or public networks.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
But these planes often electronically transmit their information, which can be seen by other aircraft and flight-tracking websites.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The bacteria itself blocks transmission of diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya, so "you will still have mosquitoes biting people, but they will not transmit disease."
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
A century of exploration of genetics illuminated how organisms transmit “likeness” to each other.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
"However, Channel 4 ensures any version it transmits of acquired programmes adheres to the Ofcom Broadcasting Code."
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
The system places a nonlinear waveguide between two optical filters, each of which transmits a different portion of the light spectrum.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2026
The internet transmits more data in a single second than it did in an entire month in the early 1990s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
The flea-sized psyllid bites the leaves and transmits the disease, which slowly chokes out the tree’s vascular system from the inside, taking years to finally show itself.
From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026
He tells me to be careful, and that he will be monitoring anything that transmits through my microphone.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
It added that it has "no visibility of, or control over, the content transmitted by its customers".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The heat-loving parasite infects the intestines and is transmitted through faecal contamination.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Now information can be transmitted to anywhere on the globe at close to the speed of light.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
People become infected with the illness by consuming food or water that has been contaminated with the parasite — the infection is not transmitted from person to person.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
We are used to radio signals transmitted by some varieties of intelligent life—namely, those who run radio and television stations.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Then, from just before 7:30 a.m. that morning to about 1:45 p.m. on Jan. 30, it stopped transmitting its location, a common tactic used by shadow-fleet tankers to obscure their activities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
And because Aedes aegypti feeds almost exclusively on humans, the insects are great at transmitting disease from one person to the next.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Her mobile phone was transmitting a signal and sending some messages a few days after her death.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
"We can confirm that the Houthis were recorded transmitting a warning message to ships in the region," the ICS said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Instead she put one foot in front of the other, her sneakers crunching the snow, her socks absorbing the wet and cold and transmitting it up her legs.
From "Breadcrumbs" by Anne Ursu
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
