intransitive

UK/ɪnˈtɹænsətɪv/US/ɪnˈtɹænsətɪv/

adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,458 of 15,258mostly written

Intransitive is said of a verb that takes no object. An intransitive verb.

To sleep and to arrive are intransitive, since nothing can be slept or arrived. Many English verbs are both, which is why the label belongs to a use rather than to a word.

Definitions of intransitive

1adjectiveintransitiveSaid of a verb that takes no object.C1
“The verb is intransitive, so nothing can follow it directly.”

intransitive is a grammatical quality.

Where it comes from

Latin
trānsitīvus
English
transitive
English, today
intransitive

Built from

trāns · Latin — across
eō · Latin — to go

From in- + transitive. transitive comes from Latin trānsitīvus, from trānsitus, from trāns (“across”) + itus, from eō (“to go”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

intransitive in the wild

Verbs that do not require an object are called intransitive verbs.
Transitive verb
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb, aside from an auxiliary verb, whose context does not entail a transitive object.
Intransitive verb
Additionally, intransitive verbs are typically considered within a class apart from modal verbs and defective verbs.
Intransitive verb
Using such a set of dice, one can invent games which are biased in ways that people unused to intransitive dice might not expect (see example).
Intransitive dice
An intransitive or non-transitive game is a zero-sum game in which pairwise competitions between the strategies contain a cycle.
Intransitive game

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the trānsitīvus family

transitive intransitive

intransitive — used about once every 54,060 pages · #14,458 · point at the bar for the others

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