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:
Together, these findings suggest that lingering taste problems after COVID-19 may involve multiple biological disruptions, affecting both the way taste cells are organized and how effectively they transmit information.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
But land use attorneys Matthew McKerley and Richard Frank, in another op-ed, say many modern data centers fit the bill because they house equipment used to transmit consumer data to and from the internet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
As time passes since her death and no related fatalities or illnesses are reported, the likelihood grows that either the woman didn’t have the plague or didn’t transmit it to others.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
"Pneumonic plague can transmit from person to person and that is why there is the concern around this," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
“The messages transmit in every language. I’ve tuned the Receiver to English only because that’s what we all speak.”
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
On one monitor, a high-flying drone transmits the view of a field.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
The shipping route, which handles five percent of global maritime trade, will cut the number of daily transmits from 36 to 34 from September 3, and to 32 later in the month.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
What he transmits as a player is so direct, so incisive, constantly.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 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
He tells me to be careful, and that he will be monitoring anything that transmits through my microphone.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
Six separate photographs were transmitted to Earth and combined to create the sweeping view.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026
It can occur in several forms, among them pneumonic plague, which is the most contagious type and can be transmitted by respiratory means.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
The other forms of plague are bubonic, which infects the lymph nodes, and septicemic, which is transmitted in the bloodstream and is also very deadly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
An infected animal can pass rabies to another animal or to a person through its bite, but that’s not the only way it can be transmitted.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
This time, before she vanished into the darkness, a spirit message was transmitted, “I am here to bid you greeting. The rappings shall still go on.”
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
The South later resumed border loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in six years, including K-pop and international news, while the North began transmitting strange, eerie sounds across the frontier, unsettling South Korean residents.
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026
It stopped transmitting at 16:37, a few miles north east of Drymen in Stirling.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
Mr. Chatten’s baritone voice, delivered with a growl and processed to sound as if it’s transmitting from a crackly pirate radio station, recalls Curtis’s tone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
The following morning, engineers began sending test data through the WFI and transmitting it back to teams on Earth.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
The new Yak-1s all came with radios, but only the planes for the squadron commanders had transmitting radios that would let one person talk to others in flight.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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