transitive verb


nounGrammar.
  1. a verb accompanied by a direct object and from which a passive can be formed, as deny, rectify, elect.

Origin of transitive verb

1
First recorded in 1580–90

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use transitive verb in a sentence

  • Thus hear is a transitive verb, for it affirms something of an object; I hear the bell.

  • The active voice is that form of a transitive verb which makes the subject and the agent the same word.

    An English Grammar | W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell
  • A transitive verb is one which must have an object to complete its meaning, and to receive the action expressed.

    An English Grammar | W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell
  • This word completing a transitive verb is sometimes called a factitive object, or second object, but it is a true complement.

    An English Grammar | W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell
  • The presence of a transitive verb implies also the presence of a noun; which noun is the name of the object affected.

    A Handbook of the English Language | Robert Gordon Latham

Cultural definitions for transitive verb

transitive verb

A verb that needs a direct object to complete its meaning. Bring, enjoy, and prefer are transitive verbs. (Compare intransitive verb.)

Notes for transitive verb

Some verbs can be transitive in one sentence and intransitive in another: turned is transitive in “Brenda turned the wheel sharply” but intransitive in “Fred turned when I called.”

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.