transactional

[tran-sak-shuh-nuhl, -zak-]

adjective

1. of or relating to the process of conducting business.

   A leading authority on ethical issues in commercial practice, she has designed classes and materials to teach students transactional skills.

2. of or relating to personal or social interaction characterized by mutual influence and exchange.

   The teacher questioned each pair of students in turn about the transactional nature of the role play—how their partner's statements or behavior shaped their own.

3. of or relating to an attitude in which personal interaction revolves around cost and benefit.

   There is a shift toward a more transactional relationship between a synagogue and its congregants, where the focus is often on dues and program fees.

Other Word Forms

• transactionally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of transactional¹

transaction ( def. ) + -al ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

Perhaps Emilia Petrarca, who writes the Substack “Shop Rat,” puts it best: “Even if you’re just browsing, you’re still being welcomed into a space and asked about your wants and needs. It’s someone’s job to listen to you and give you attention. In times like these, people really crave human interaction and that sense of care, even if it’s transactional.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse - which tracks immigration data - found that just over 70% of the nearly 60,000 people held at the end of September had no criminal record.

Read more on BBC

Nearly three-quarters of immigrants in ICE detention as of September have no criminal convictions, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“We see a move away from broad tariffs towards more targeted tools as the U.S. and China move into a shaky ‘transactional truce’ which could have more sector-specific implications,” the global investment strategist writes.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“It seems very transactional to me, and you start losing the whole hospitality thing,” he says.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• debatable 
• transferable www.thesaurus.com