transmit
Americanverb (used with object)
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transmits,
present (3rd person singular)
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transmitted,
past participle, past
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transmitting
present participle
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to send or forward, as to a recipient or destination; dispatch; convey.
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to communicate, as information or news.
- Synonyms:
- bear
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to pass or spread (disease, infection, etc.) to another.
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to pass on (a genetic characteristic) from parent to offspring.
The mother transmitted her red hair to her daughter.
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Physics.
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to cause (light, heat, sound, etc.) to pass through a medium.
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to convey or pass along (an impulse, force, motion, etc.).
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to permit (light, heat, etc.) to pass through.
Glass transmits light.
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Radio and Television. to emit (electromagnetic waves).
verb (used without object)
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transmits,
present (3rd person singular)
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transmitted,
past participle, past
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transmitting
present participle
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to send a signal by wire, radio, or television waves.
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to pass on a right or obligation to heirs or descendants.
verb
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(tr) to pass or cause to go from one place or person to another; transfer
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(tr) to pass on or impart (a disease, infection, etc)
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(tr) to hand down to posterity
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(tr; usually passive) to pass (an inheritable characteristic) from parent to offspring
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to allow the passage of (particles, energy, etc)
radio waves are transmitted through the atmosphere
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to send out (signals) by means of radio waves or along a transmission line
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to broadcast (a radio or television programme)
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(tr) to transfer (a force, motion, power, etc) from one part of a mechanical system to another
Synonym Usage
See carry.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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transmittalnoun
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pretransmitverb (used with object)
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retransmitverb (used with object)
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nontransmittibleadjective
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transmittableadjective
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transmittibleadjective
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untransmittedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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transmitsimple
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transmitssimple
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have transmittedperfect
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has transmittedperfect
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am transmittingprogressive
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are transmittingprogressive
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is transmittingprogressive
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have been transmittingperfect progressive
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has been transmittingperfect progressive
Past
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transmittedsimple
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had transmittedperfect
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was transmittingprogressive
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were transmittingprogressive
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had been transmittingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of transmit
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English transmitten, from Latin trānsmittere “to send across,” from trāns- trans- + mittere “to send”
Explanation
If you’re an international spy, you might transmit secret messages using a special code written in invisible ink. If you aren’t a spy, you could probably just use email. Whatever your circumstances, when you transmit information, you send. You can transmit things from person to person or from one thing to another. The airwaves can be used to transmit radio or TV signals, for example, and computers can transmit messages over a network. This verb often describes messages or data being sent, but you can also transmit ideas, beliefs, or attitude. In addition, transmit can describe the spread of disease, like mosquitoes that can transmit disease when they bite.
Vocabulary lists containing transmit
Tier 2 Words for the SBAC ELA Items
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Send a Message: Mit and Miss
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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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:
JPL also manages the Deep Space Network — the global array of massive antennas that will transmit commands to the copter and receive data from Titan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
The connections responsible for generating the waves do more than transmit signals.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026
It also said its terms and conditions make clear that radio signals may be intercepted, and it advises customers not to transmit sensitive or personal information over radio or public networks.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Optical interconnects transmit data using light and can provide the high bandwidth and energy efficiency increasingly required as AI networks scale, she says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Lazear’s early attempts to show that mosquitoes could transmit the disease from a sick person to a healthy one failed in all but one case.
From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy
Drawing on the revelation that she received and authoritatively transmits, the church planted the seed that all humans are equal in dignity that led to the modern notion of human rights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
"However, Channel 4 ensures any version it transmits of acquired programmes adheres to the Ofcom Broadcasting Code."
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
The system places a nonlinear waveguide between two optical filters, each of which transmits a different portion of the light spectrum.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2026
The flea-sized psyllid bites the leaves and transmits the disease, which slowly chokes out the tree’s vascular system from the inside, taking years to finally show itself.
From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026
He tells me to be careful, and that he will be monitoring anything that transmits through my microphone.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
The information is encrypted and transmitted to a secure database that can only be accessed by San Diego police personnel, according to the department.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
West Nile virus survives in nature in several types of birds and is transmitted to humans by the bites of mosquitoes that feed on infected birds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
"The message transmitted by influencers is 'Look! Touch the shark, nothing will happen to you,'" he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
"Our research shows that this assumption may not always hold true. Other treponemal diseases may also have been transmitted from mother to child."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026
Samuel Morse changed the news business forever when he electronically transmitted the results of a congressional vote in Washington, DC, to a newspaper in Baltimore across a copper wire back in 1844.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
When a Chinese official who had first denied human-to-human transmission now admitted people without symptoms were transmitting the virus, “GAME ON,” Dr. Fauci wrote.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
And because Aedes aegypti feeds almost exclusively on humans, the insects are great at transmitting disease from one person to the next.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
"Starship is intact, floating in the ocean and transmitting telemetry!" company head Elon Musk said on X.
From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026
Those limits are roughly comparable to the transmitting power of the now collapsed Arecibo radar facility in Puerto Rico.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
Hit nine, transmitting at 1600, this is KX46, do you receive1 He does not understand all of it.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
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.
