Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Designating a verb or verb construction that does not require or cannot take a direct object, as snow or sleep.
- noun An intransitive verb.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In grammar: Noting the case which expresses the subject of the intransitive verb or the object of the transitive verb.
- In Eskimo gram., noting the thing possessed. Also called
objective . - In grammar, not expressing an action that passes immediately over to an object; not taking a direct object: said of verbs that require a preposition before their object, or take one only indirectly, or in the manner of a dative: as, to
stand on the ground; to swim in the water; to run away. - Not transitive, in the logical or mathematical sense.
- noun In grammar, a verb which does not properly take after it an object, as sit, fall, run, lie.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective rare Not passing farther; kept; detained.
- adjective (Gram.) Not transitive; not passing over to an object; expressing an action or state that is limited to the agent or subject, or, in other words, an action which does not require an object to complete the sense.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective grammar, of a verb Not
transitive : not having, or not taking, adirect object . - adjective rare Not
transitive or passing further; kept; detained.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a verb (or verb construction) that does not take an object
- adjective designating a verb that does not require or cannot take a direct object
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word intransitive.
Examples
-
His theory, which consisted of four major stages and multiple substages, also set the ground rules for future stage theories: they are hierarchical, in that later stages grow out of earlier ones, and they are intransitive, that is, unable to be reordered.
The Truth About Grief Ruth Davis Konigsberg 2011
-
His theory, which consisted of four major stages and multiple substages, also set the ground rules for future stage theories: they are hierarchical, in that later stages grow out of earlier ones, and they are intransitive, that is, unable to be reordered.
The Truth About Grief Ruth Davis Konigsberg 2011
-
There is an 'intransitive' element in us, a habit of doing things that have significance.
-
Some transitive verbs have English meanings which do not differ in form from the "intransitive" English verbs to which they are related
A Complete Grammar of Esperanto Ivy Kellerman Reed 1922
-
English it is generally intransitive, meaning to be careful or thoughtful; it is from the Anglo-Saxon 'Carian'; it became obsolete in the seventeenth century.
The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson Tennyson 1850
-
An "intransitive" verb, of course, is one that acts on its own, without an object.
CJR 2010
-
An "intransitive" verb, of course, is one that acts on its own, without an object.
CJR 2010
-
The verb "lie" (prone or at rest) is intransitive, meaning, as you well know it, cannot have direct objects.
BBspot 2009
-
I'd say that the only difference between the verb "se souvenir" (intransitive) and the verb "se rappeler" (transitive) is in the construction.
-
I did learn that the F-word can be used as a verb transitive or intransitive, as well as compound, adverb, adjective, command, interjection and noun -- often in a single sentence.
Dr. Peggy Drexler: Mean Girls and Media: The Teenage Fists of Feminism Dr. Peggy Drexler 2011
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.