What is "transitive" in English? Definition and Explanations

Updated: 14-07-2026 by Wikilanguages.net
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What does transitive mean in English? Meaning of transitive definition and abbreviation with examples.

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What is "transitive" in English? Definition and Explanations

Meaning of "transitive": a verb (or verb construction) that requires an object in order to be grammatical

Noun

  • Meaning: a verb (or verb construction) that requires an object in order to be grammatical
  • Synonyms: transitive transitive verb transitive verb form
  • Hyponyms: doubly transitive verb doubly transitive verb form
  • Hypernyms: verb
  • Meaning of "transitive": designating a verb that requires a direct object to complete the meaning

    Adjective

  • Meaning: designating a verb that requires a direct object to complete the meaning
  • Synonyms: transitive
  • Antonyms: intransitive
  • Adjective: Making a transit or passage. (Can we date this quote?) Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Poet: 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.(Can we date this quote?) Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Poet: 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.Affected by transference of signification. (Can we [[:Category:Requests for quotation/John Stuart Mill|find and add]] a quotation of John Stuart Mill to this entry?)[[Category:Requests for quotation/John Stuart Mill|TRANSITIVE]] 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.(Can we [[:Category:Requests for quotation/John Stuart Mill|find and add]] a quotation of John Stuart Mill to this entry?)[[Category:Requests for quotation/John Stuart Mill|TRANSITIVE]] 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.(grammar, of a verb) Taking an object or objects. The English verb "to notice" is a transitive verb, because we say things like "She noticed a problem". (Can we date this quote?) G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy: Men have tried to turn "revolutionise" from a transitive to an intransitive verb.(Can we date this quote?) G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy: Men have tried to turn "revolutionise" from a transitive to an intransitive verb.(set theory, of a relation on a set) Having the property that if an element x is related to y and y is related to z, then x is necessarily related to z. "Is an ancestor of" is a transitive relation: if Alice is an ancestor of Bob, and Bob is an ancestor of Carol, then Alice is an ancestor of Carol.(algebra, of a group action) Such that, for any two elements of the acted-upon set, some group element maps the first to the second.
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    transitive in English: transitive
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