transact
Americanverb (used with object)
-
transacts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
transacted,
past participle, past
-
transacting
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
transacts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
transacted,
past participle, past
-
transacting
present participle
verb
Synonym Usage
See perform.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
transactsimple
-
transactssimple
-
have transactedperfect
-
has transactedperfect
-
am transactingprogressive
-
are transactingprogressive
-
is transactingprogressive
-
have been transactingperfect progressive
-
has been transactingperfect progressive
Past
-
transactedsimple
-
had transactedperfect
-
was transactingprogressive
-
were transactingprogressive
-
had been transactingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of transact
First recorded in 1575–85; from Latin trānsāctus (past participle of trānsigere “to carry out, accomplish”), equivalent to trāns- “across, beyond, through” + ag(ere) “to drive, lead” + -tus past participle suffix; see trans-
Explanation
The verb transact is almost always used with the word "business." To transact business is to conduct it, as when a shopkeeper sells groceries to a customer. All kinds of business owners and workers transact business, just by following their usual routines of selling, buying, investing, trading, or anything else they do to carry out their work. Shoppers also participate in transacting business — a purchase can also be called a transaction. The Latin root word, transactus, means "to drive through or accomplish."
Vocabulary lists containing transact
Power Prefix: trans-
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: trans-
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trans-
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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:
Google Pay and PhonePe can fight fiercely for customers while still allowing their users to transact across the same network.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Morehead’s thesis is that as AI becomes more widely used, the rise of autonomous agents may eventually need digitally native ways to transact.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 2026
They would be running afoul of sanctions if they transact with Iran.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
While a parent must open the account and can view their teen’s investments, balances and account activity, they cannot transact or withdraw from it.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 26, 2026
But he knew what she meant; he understood the business the Rosen Association wanted to transact.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the agency, threatening penalties for any shipper that transacts with it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
That could jeopardize a trading relationship worth some $300 billion a year, just slightly less than Japan transacts with the U.S.
From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026
“We are hearing that we are not just clients or countries that one transacts with, we want to be partners, and that’s certainly the spirit with which we are engaging them,” he said.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 10, 2022
But it still transacts based on those stories, based on what it could become, based on what it intends to do, based on what it, in theory, might do in the future.
From Salon ● Feb. 17, 2022
Standard Oil, the seller of oil to the people, transacts its business as does any other corporation.
From Frenzied Finance Vol. 1: The Crime of Amalgamated by Thomas William Lawson
Other entities that have transacted with CoinEx wallets have been linked by U.S. officials to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
A huge portion of such fraud is transacted in cryptocurrency.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2025
It was a pay-as-you-go operation transacted in US dollars.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2023
SEC chair Gary Gensler recently promoted the benefits of central clearing and pointed to data showing high levels of repo trades transacted at zero haircuts.
From Reuters ● Nov. 21, 2023
As we entered this city, our minds were filled with the remembrance of the events that had been transacted there more than a century and a half before.
From "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley
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It also forbids the branch’s Egyptian headquarters or any other bank from transacting with U.S. banks on its behalf.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
There were 59 million monthly transacting active users for Cash App in the month of June.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
She is accused of breaching US sanctions against Iran, which prohibit US persons from transacting or dealing in Iranian goods or services without authorisation.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026
If there are enough buyers and sellers transacting, that market is efficient.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2025
These conditions apply not only to societies existing in Ontario, but to foreign societies transacting business there.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 2 "French Literature" to "Frost, William" by Various
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.