Transitive verb: Definition from Answers.com Mobile

transitive verb

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

logo The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.