transitive

English

Etymology

From Latin transitivus, from transitus, from trans (“across”) + itus, from eo (“to go”)

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

transitive (not comparable)

Set theory: An example of a transitivity relation.

1. Making a transit or passage.

   • For all symbols are fluxional; all language is vehicular and transitive, and is good, as ferries and horses are, for conveyance, not as farms and houses are, for homestead. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Poet

2. Affected by transference of signification.

   • By far the greater part of the transitive or derivative applications of words depend on casual and unaccountable caprices of the feelings or the fancy. - John Stuart Mill

3. (grammar): Of a verb, that takes an object or objects. (compare with: intransitive.)

   I read the book. (read is a transitive verb)

   I read. (read is an intransitive verb)

   • G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

     Men have tried to turn "revolutionise" from a transitive to an intransitive verb.

4. (set theory): Of a relation R on a set S, such that if xRy and yRz, then xRz for all members x, y and z of S (that is, if the relation applies from one element to a second, and from the second to a third, then it also applies from the first element to the third).

   "Is an ancestor of" is a transitive relation.

Antonyms

• (making a transit or passage):
• (affected by transference of signification):
• (grammar): intransitive
• (set theory): intransitive, nontransitive

Translations

making a transit or passage

Catalan: transitiu (ca)

Ukrainian: перехідний (uk)

affected by transference of signification

Dutch: overdrachtelijk (nl)

Ukrainian: образний (uk)

in grammar: of a verb, that takes an object or objects

Albanian: kalimtar (sq) Arabic: (indefinite) متعدٍ (ar) (muta`addin) Catalan: transitiu (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 及物 (cmn) (jíwù) Croatian: prijélazan (hr) Czech: přechodný (cs) Dutch: overgankelijk (nl), transitief (nl) Esperanto: transitiva (eo) Finnish: transitiivinen, siirtyvä French: transitif (fr) m., transitive (fr) f. Galician: transitivo (gl) German: transitiv (de)

Italian: transitivo (it) m., transitiva (it) f. Japanese: 他動 (ja) (たどう, tadō) Norwegian: transitiv (no) Novial: transitiv Polish: przechodni (pl) Portuguese: transitivo (pt) m. Romanian: tranzitiv (ro) Russian: переходный (ru) (perexódnyj) Spanish: transitivo (es) m. Turkish: geçişli (tr) Ukrainian: перехідний (uk), перехідне дієслово (uk), форма перехідного дієслова (uk) Volapük: loveädik (vo)

in set theory

Croatian: trȁnzitīvan (hr) Czech: tranzitivní (cs) m. French: transitif (fr) m., transitive (fr) f. German: transitiv (de)

Japanese: 推移的 (ja) (すいいてき, suiï-teki) Polish: przechodni (pl) m. Romanian: tranzitiv (ro) Ukrainian: перехідний (uk)

Derived terms

• ditransitive
• monotransitive
• complex transitive
• transitively
• transitiveness
• transitive verb

See also

• reflexive
• symmetric

References

• transitive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʁɑ̃.zi.tiv/, X-SAMPA: /tRA~.zi.tiv/
• Rhymes: -iv
• Homophone: transitives

Adjective

transitive f.

1. feminine form of transitif

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Italian

Adjective

transitive pl.

1. feminine form of transitivo

Anagrams

• intervista, intestarvi, intraviste, rinvestita, rinvitaste, strinatevi, vetrinista

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Latin

Adjective

transitīve

1. vocative masculine singular of transitīvus