transition

American  

[tran-zish-uhn, -sish-] / trænˈzɪʃ ən, -ˈsɪʃ- /

noun

transitions plural

1. movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change.

   The transition from adolescence to adulthood can be difficult.

   Synonyms:

   conversion, passing, changeover

2. Music.

   1. a passing from one key to another; modulation.

   2. a brief modulation; a modulation used in passing.

   3. a sudden, unprepared modulation.

3. a passage from one scene to another by sound effects, music, etc., as in a television program, theatrical production, or the like.

4. Also called gender transition.  the process by which a transgender person comes to openly express their gender identity, including changes to their way of dressing, acting, or speaking, to their pronouns, name, or legal gender marker, or to their physical characteristics via hormone therapy and surgery.

   When I began my transition, there was very little information online about testosterone.

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verb (used without object)

1. to make a transition.

   He had difficulty transitioning from enlisted man to officer.

2. (of a transgender person) to move toward openly expressing one's gender identity, often by making changes to one's way of dressing, acting, or speaking, to one's pronouns, name, or legal gender marker, or to one's physical characteristics via hormone therapy and surgery.

   My friend is transitioning socially, but she doesn't want hormone therapy or surgery.

transition British  

/ trænˈzɪʃən /

noun

1. change or passage from one state or stage to another

2. the period of time during which something changes from one state or stage to another

3. music

   1. a movement from one key to another; modulation

   2. a linking passage between two divisions in a composition; bridge

4. Also called: transitional.  a style of architecture that was used in western Europe in the late 11th and early 12th century, characterized by late Romanesque forms combined with early Gothic details

5. physics

   1. any change that results in a change of physical properties of a substance or system, such as a change of phase or molecular structure

   2. a change in the configuration of an atomic nucleus, involving either a change in energy level resulting from the emission of a gamma-ray photon or a transformation to another element or isotope

6. a sentence, passage, etc, that connects a topic to one that follows or that links sections of a written work

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• transitional
  adjective
• transitionary
  adjective
• transitionally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• transitions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of transition

First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin trānsitiōn-, stem of trānsitiō “passage, transit across,” from trānsit(us) “gone across” (past participle of trānsīre “to go across, pass over”; cf. transit ) + -iō -ion

Explanation

A transition is a change from one thing to the next, either in action or state of being—as in a job transition or as in the much more dramatic example of a caterpillar making a transition into a butterfly. Transition is awfully reassuring in its tidy reliance on regular forms. Trans means "cross," so when you hear it at the beginning of a word you know that it indicates crossing, as in transatlantic or translate. An odd thing happening with transition lately is that it is transitioning from its familiar form as a noun to a newer life as a verb, as in “We’re going to transition Gloria to that new job.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

transition transitions

Earlier, a diplomatic source told AFP that the roadmap "offers a balanced and pragmatic path forward, with all weapons decommissioned and a phased transition of responsibilities" to the new authorities.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

The average home now pays 31% more for its electricity than before the Ukraine war, according to Clean Energy Wire, a Berlin-based news outlet covering Germany's energy transition.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

The show even weathered a major uproar over the botched host transition that followed the death of beloved emcee Alex Trebek in 2020.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

In Spain, fires near Madrid have destroyed more than 190,000 acres, according to the country’s minister for ecological transition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

“That there’s going to be no transition at all? No interim period for—I don’t know—a provisional government-in-training? Just wham, the Belgians are gone and the Congolese have to run everything on their own?”

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

"To have a chance of understanding the long-term impact of human activity on Earth, we have to study the relationship between events in Earth's history and evolutionary transitions."

From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026

During school hours, the role includes managing schedules, coordinating appointments and activities, running errands and overseeing day-to-day household administration—then transitions to child care when the kids return home.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

The figure below illustrates how the model’s predicted transitions to out-of-work change for workers in six jobs ranging from low to high in AI exposure.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026

Students overwhelmingly said exploring career interests is helping them make successful transitions into adulthood.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

The following examples are helpful in preparing autistic students in advance for transitions.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Related Words

• changeover
• conversion
• development
• evolution
• growth
• passage
• progress
• progression
• shift
• transformation
• upheaval