transit

American  

[tran-zit, -sit] / ˈtræn zɪt, -sɪt /

noun

• transits
  plural

1. the act or fact of passing across or through; passage from one place to another.

   The area continues to be affected by the transit of illegal drugs bound for major cities.

2. conveyance or transportation of people or goods from one place to another, especially local public transportation.

   Improving city transit is a high priority for the new mayor.

3. a transition or change.

   The transit of autumn to winter saw woodpecker season in full swing and Canada geese on the move.

4. Astronomy.

   1. the passage of a heavenly body across the meridian of a given location or through the field of a telescope.

      The experiments lasted long enough for us to detect the transit of black holes with a mass of up to 10 times that of our sun.

   2. the passage of Mercury or Venus across the disk of the sun, or of a satellite or its shadow across the face of its primary.

      In June 2012, a NASA webcast enabled the public to view the transit of Venus across the solar disk.

   3. meridian circle.

5. Astrology. the passage of a planet through one of the twelve houses or divisions of the celestial sphere or across the position held by another planet in a person’s birth chart.

   The transit of Mars is happening in the third house for you, so expect a shift in things concerning home and family.

6. Also called transit theodolite, transit instrument.  Surveying. a type of theodolite having a telescope that can be flipped vertically to reverse the direction of view: used for measuring horizontal and often vertical angles, sometimes with the ability to take successive measurements of the same angle and average them for greater accuracy.

7. U.S. Aerospace. Transit, one of a series of satellites for providing positional data to ships and aircraft.

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verb (used with object)

• transits,
  present (3rd person singular)
• transited,
  past participle,  past
• transiting
  present participle

1. to pass across or through.

   Many millions of oil barrels transit the Suez Canal every day.

   It’s fairly easy to intercept emails as they transit the internet.

2. Surveying, Astronomy. to flip (a telescope) vertically in order to reverse the direction of view.

3. Astronomy. to cross (a meridian, celestial body, etc.).

   Mercury transits the sun about 13 or 14 times each century.

verb (used without object)

• transits,
  present (3rd person singular)
• transited,
  past participle,  past
• transiting
  present participle

1. to pass over, through, into, or out of something.

   Are you planning on transiting through the United States?

   Attackers can hijack your data as it transits to and from your system.

2. Astronomy. to make a passage across a meridian, celestial body, etc..

   The probe was looking for planets transiting across the face of stars.

idioms

1. in transit. see in transit.

transit British  

/ ˈtrænsɪt, ˈtrænz- /

noun

1. 1. the passage or conveyance of goods or people

   2. ( as modifier )

      a transit visa

2. a change or transition

3. a route

4. astronomy

   1. the passage of a celestial body or satellite across the face of a relatively larger body as seen from the earth

   2. the apparent passage of a celestial body across the meridian, caused by the earth's diurnal rotation

5. astrology the passage of a planet across some special point on the zodiac

6. while being conveyed; during passage

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verb

1. to make a transit through or over (something)

2. astronomy to make a transit across (a celestial body or the meridian)

3. to cause (the telescope of a surveying instrument) to turn over or (of such a telescope) to be turned over in a vertical plane so that it points in the opposite direction

transit Scientific  

/ trăn′sĭt /

1. The passage of a smaller celestial body or its shadow across the disk of a larger celestial body. As observed from Earth, Mercury and Venus are the only planets of the solar system that make transits of the Sun, because they are the only planets with orbits that lie between Earth and the Sun. Mercury makes an average of 13 transits of the Sun each century. Transits of Venus across the Sun are much rarer, with only 7 of them having occurred between 1639 and 2004. In contrast, transits of Jupiter's moons across its disk are common occurrences.

2. Compare occultation

3. The passage of a celestial body across the celestial meridian (the great circle on the celestial sphere passing through the celestial poles and an observer's zenith). For any observer, the object is at its highest in the sky at its transit of the observer's meridian.

4. See more at celestial meridian

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• transitable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• transits
  plural

Participles

• transiting
  present
• transited
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• transit
  simple
• transits
  simple
• have transited
  perfect
• has transited
  perfect
• am transiting
  progressive
• are transiting
  progressive
• is transiting
  progressive
• have been transiting
  perfect progressive
• has been transiting
  perfect progressive

Past

• transited
  simple
• had transited
  perfect
• was transiting
  progressive
• were transiting
  progressive
• had been transiting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will transit
  simple
• will have transited
  perfect
• will be transiting
  progressive
• will have been transiting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of transit

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English (noun and verb), from Latin trānsitus “crossing, passage,” noun use of past participle of trānsīre “to go across, pass over,” from trāns- trans- + īre “to go”

Explanation

Transit means “journey,” and saying you’re "in transit" means you’re on your way somewhere. Before we had cell phones, one of the upsides of being in transit was that no one could get in touch with you. Transit may be familiar to you from the phrase mass transit. While it sometimes seems like “mass transit” is synonymous with “unreliable, crowded and inefficient,” the phrase just means "public transportation." The first instance of transit being used in this sense was in the 19th century, and people have been complaining ever since. Transit is related to the word transition, which refers to a change from one state or condition to another.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

transit transits transited transiting

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who oversees the district, said in a statement that her team has regularly met with the transit agency to advocate for Eagle Rock’s needs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

While some Middle Eastern crude cargos are able to transit the Strait of Hormuz, fuel production has been hampered by the recent attacks on the region’s infrastructure.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026

In a letter to parents, Newham Bridge Primary School said the closure was to "ensure safe transit home for all our families".

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

It warned ships not to attempt to transit the key trade waterway via routes unapproved by Tehran.

From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026

I’d looked at transit maps and locations of Laundromats, in case I was there long enough to run out of clean clothes.

From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin

In 2023, El Nino forced a reduction in daily transits from 38 to 22 due to the dramatic reduction in reservoir levels.

From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026

Espino de Marotta: We have 10 daily transits through the canal’s biggest locks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

In 2023 and 2024, El Nino forced a reduction in daily transits to 22 and the maximum draft to 13.41 meters.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

“Nonetheless, Strait of Hormuz transits remain subdued, well below pre-conflict levels, about 8 million barrels a day for total petroleum liquids, versus a pre-war level of about 21 million barrels a day,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

I watched two Phobos transits yesterday and sighted Deneb last night.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

On Tuesday, for example, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said 17 million barrels of crude oil transited Hormuz Monday, which is not far off the 20 million barrels daily average before the disruption began in March.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026

The rest transited via unidentified routes or the traditional IMO corridor.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

And despite the overall lull in the fighting, Iran fired drones at oil tankers from the United Arab Emirates, another U.S. ally, as they transited the Strait of Hormuz this month.

From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026

About 20% of the world’s oil transited the waterway before the Iran war began.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026

The great comet of 1882 transited the sun’s disc on Sunday, September 17, of that year, the ingress taking place at 4h 50m 58s, Cape mean time.

From Astronomical Curiosities Facts and Fallacies by J. Ellard Gore

Each transiting ship requiers about 200 million liters of water, which is then discharged into the sea.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

The Saudi national shipping company, Bahri, confirmed on Wednesday that its vessel Sidr was "involved in a security incident while transiting the Strait of Hormuz".

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026

Part of the problem is that the customs office in the Maldives has limited staff, and goods transiting through the country undergo minimal checks, the person said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

Per the report, the Saudi Arabian-flagged Sidr, which is a large crude carrier operated by the country’s national shipping company, Bahri, was struck as it was transiting east of Khasab, Oman.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

We will expand our global capability for detecting illicit materials, weapons, and personnel transiting abroad or heading for the United States or U.S. interests overseas.

From National Strategy for Combating Terrorism September 2006 by National Security Council (U.S.)

Related Words

• passage
• shipment
• transport
• travel