transitional

American  

[tran-zish-uh-nl, -sish-] / trænˈzɪʃ ə nl, -ˈsɪʃ- /

Also transitionary

adjective

1. of or relating to a transition from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another: transitional housing for people with serious mental illness.

   transitional governments;

   transitional housing for people with serious mental illness.

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Other Word Forms

• nontransitional
  adjective
• transitionally
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of transitional

First recorded in 1670–80; transition ( def. ) + -al ¹ ( def. )

Explanation

Sometimes people who have been laid off from their old jobs and haven’t been able to find new ones say they are in a transitional period. In other words, they are in the middle of a change. The adjective transitional relates to things such as governments, office spaces, or aspects of one’s life that are in the process of changing. This is a temporary state, until a permanent solution is established, and the word is often used with a sense of hope. For example, when someone goes through a romantic breakup and is hoping to find someone new, she might also say she is in a transitional phase. A synonym for transitional is interim.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

transitional

He loved the rudimentary males he found embedded in the females of one particular species—precisely the kind of weird transitional form his theory of evolution would depend upon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

She added: "Later this year we will set out the new policy on settlement... as well as any transitional arrangements we might decide to implement."

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

The school, which offers transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, enrolled 421 students last year, and 54 experienced homelessness.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

For an increasing number of Americans, renting has become a lasting financial reality, not a brief, transitional phase on the way to buying a home.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

I am transitional; some days I look like a worn-out thirty-five, others like a sprightly fifty.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

Related Words

• capricious
• fickle
• fluctuating
• mercurial
• protean
• shifting
• unpredictable
• unsettled
• unstable
• varying
• volatile