intransitive
[in-tran-si-tiv]Grammar
- noting or having the quality of an intransitive verb.
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Origin of intransitive
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for intransitive
Historical Examples
The absence of the nouns, in and of itself, makes it intransitive.
A Handbook of the English LanguageRobert Gordon Latham
The intransitive meaning "to bow down" is taken by some commentators.
The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, Vol. 1A. Maclaren
So, for an intransitive verb we have, either “I am gone,” or “it is gone by me.”
The beauty of Chinese verbs is that they are all transitive or intransitive at pleasure.
InstigationsEzra Pound
It has come from generalizing all intransitive words into one.
InstigationsEzra Pound
intransitive
- denoting a verb when it does not require a direct object
- denoting a verb that customarily does not require a direct object"to faint" is an intransitive verb
- (as noun)a verb in either of these categories
- denoting an adjective or noun that does not require any particular noun phrase as a referent
- logic maths (of a relation) having the property that if it holds between one argument and a second, and between the second and a third, it must fail to hold between the first and the third"being the mother of" is an intransitive relation
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Compare transitive, pseudo-intransitive
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for intransitive
adj.
1610s, from Late Latin intransitivus "not passing over" (to another person), Priscian's term, from Latin in- "not" (see in- (1)) + transitivus "that may pass over," from transire "to pass over" (see transitive).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper