transpire
Americanverb (used without object)
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to occur; happen; take place.
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to emit or give off waste matter, watery vapor, etc., through the surface, as of the body or of leaves.
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to escape, as moisture or odor, through or as if through pores.
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to be revealed or become known.
verb (used with object)
verb
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(intr) to come to light; be known
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informal (intr) to happen or occur
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physiol to give off or exhale (water or vapour) through the skin, a mucous membrane, etc
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(of plants) to lose (water in the form of water vapour), esp through the stomata of the leaves
Usage
It is often maintained that transpire should not be used to mean happen or occur, as in the event transpired late in the evening , and that the word is properly used to mean become known, as in it transpired later that the thief had been caught . The word is, however, widely used in the former sense, esp in spoken English
Other Word Forms
- transpirable adjective
- transpiration noun
- transpiratory adjective
- untranspiring adjective
Etymology
Origin of transpire
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Middle French transpirer, from Medieval Latin trānspīrāre, equivalent to Latin trāns- trans- + spīrāre “to breathe”
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.
Analysts are split about whether that sort of transaction could still transpire in the near term.
From MarketWatch
But it now transpires that Gordon Brown had asked the cabinet secretary to undertake a similar exercise as long ago as last September - although it unearthed nothing.
From BBC
"When we got there we saw what looked like a log of wood and that transpired to be a torso, which had stayed exactly where it had gone in. Which was quite remarkable."
From BBC
In terms of absorbing what’s transpiring, it’s vastly superior to the traditional mid‑ field perspective from the press box.
From Los Angeles Times
But what transpired was a kind of tongue-in-cheek muscle-man competition that gave each of the men a solo excursion as if emulating the “talent portion” of such affairs.
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.
