transitive

[ tran-si-tiv, -zi- ]

/ ˈtræn sɪ tɪv, -zɪ- /

Save This Word!

adjective

Grammar. having the nature of a transitive verb.

characterized by or involving transition; transitional; intermediate.

passing over to or affecting something else; transeunt.

Mathematics. noting a relation in which one element in relation to a second element and the second in relation to a third element implies the first element is in relation to the third element, as the relation “less than or equal to.”

noun

Grammar. a transitive verb.

QUIZ

SHALL WE PLAY A "SHALL" VS. "SHOULD" CHALLENGE?

Should you take this quiz on “shall” versus “should”? It should prove to be a quick challenge!

Question 1 of 6

Which form is used to state an obligation or duty someone has?

shall

should

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of transitive

First recorded in 1550–60; from Late Latin trānsitīvus, equivalent to Latin trānsit(us) (see transition) + -īvus -ive

OTHER WORDS FROM transitive

tran·si·tive·ly, adverbtran·si·tive·ness, tran·si·tiv·i·ty, nounnon·tran·si·tive, adjective, nounnon·tran·si·tive·ly, adverb

non·tran·si·tive·ness, nounun·tran·si·tive, adjectiveun·tran·si·tive·ly, adverbun·tran·si·tive·ness, noun

Words nearby transitive

transition point, transition probability, transition region, transition team, transition temperature, transitive, transitive verb, transitman, transit number, transitory, transitory action

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use transitive in a sentence

Though science is regrettably behind in confirming this, I think it’s fair to say that, because pain causes an endorphin response, and hot peppers cause pain, by the transitive principle, eating hot peppers probably causes an endorphin rush.
What would possess someone to eat a Carolina Reaper pepper? This writer tried to find out.|Leigh Cowart|September 20, 2021|Popular-Science
How transitive these equations are is the question posed above, but it is trivial to follow the thread from one to the next to the next.
The inescapable overlap of pandemic and politics|Philip Bump|September 10, 2021|Washington Post
If the word is to be taken as virtually transitive, the object must be the partisans of the offender.
Expositor's Bible: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians|James Denney
That's called "transitive trust" -- trust that moves across the web of our relationships.
Little Brother|Cory Doctorow

The intransitive form derives from the transitive by dropping a generalized, customary, reflexive or cognate object.
Instigations|Ezra Pound
To grammarians and logicians these have seemed more primitive than the transitive, or at least exceptions to the transitive.
Instigations|Ezra Pound
I found that it was his persistent, natural, and magnificent use of hundreds of transitive verbs.
Instigations|Ezra Pound

British Dictionary definitions for transitive

transitive

/ (ˈtrænsɪtɪv) /

adjective

grammar

denoting an occurrence of a verb when it requires a direct object or denoting a verb that customarily requires a direct object``to find'' is a transitive verb
(as noun)these verbs are transitives

grammar denoting an adjective, such as fond, or a noun, such as husband, that requires a noun phrase and cannot be used without some implicit or explicit reference to such a noun phrase

logic maths having the property that if one object bears a relationship to a second object that also bears the same relationship to a third object, then the first object bears this relationship to the third objectmathematical equality is transitive, since if x = y and y = z then x = z

Compare intransitive

Derived forms of transitive

transitively, adverbtransitivity or transitiveness, noun

Word Origin for transitive

C16: from Late Latin transitīvus from Latin transitus a going over; see transient

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for transitive

transitive

[ trăn′sĭ-tĭv ]

Of or relating to a mathematical or logical relation between three elements such that if the relation holds between the first and second elements and between the second and third elements, it necessarily holds between the first and third elements. The relation of being greater than in mathematics is transitive, since if a > b and b > c, then a > c.