transitive Hear it!

transitive Definition

tran·si·tive (tran′sə tiv, -zə-)

adjective

  1. Rare of, showing, or characterized by transition; transitional
  2. Gram. expressing an action thought of as passing over to and having an effect on some person or thing; taking a direct object: said of certain verbs
  3. Math. designating a relation having the property that, whenever a first element bears a particular relation to a second that in turn bears this same relation to a third, the first element bears this relation to the third identity and equality are transitive relations

Etymology: LL transitivus < L transitus: see transit

noun

a transitive verb

transitive Related Forms
tran′·si·tively adverb tran′·si·tive·ness noun or tran′·si·tiv′·ity
transitive Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • verb: Never leave a transitive verb just lay there without an object.
  • closure: That is, should Green Card read the source of all modules in the transitive closure of the module's imports?
  • relation: To overcome this problem he extends causal dependence to a transitive relation in the usual way by taking its ancestral.
  • group: Data for Transitive Groups has been taken from the current GAP distribution.
  • action: The verbal predicate of a transitive action became the dominant feature of its inner structure.
  • construction: This complete chain of action accounts for the transitive construction in syntax.

Modifying Another Word

  • not: If the action is not transitive ` 0 ' is returned.
  • obligatorily: Less garden pathing for obligatorily transitive verbs was found only later, e.g. on the main verb.
  • either: You will find that some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive depending on the context of their sentence.

Noun used with modifier

  • verb: Further down you will find 2 vt ( verb transitive ) meaning verbs which take a direct object, with examples of usage.