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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Intransitive \In*tran"si*tive\, adjective [L. intransitivus: cf. F. intransitif. See {In-} not, and {Transitive}.]
1. Not passing farther; kept; detained. [R.]
And then it is for the image's sake and so far is intransitive; but whatever is paid more to the image is transitive and passes further. --Jer. Taylor.
2. (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; as, an intransitive verb, e. g., the bird flies; the dog runs.
Note: Intransitive verbs have no passive form. Some verbs which appear at first sight to be intransitive are in reality, or were originally, transitive verbs with a reflexive or other object omitted; as, he keeps (i. e., himself) aloof from danger. Intransitive verbs may take a noun of kindred signification for a cognate object; as, he died the death of a hero; he dreamed a dream. Some intransitive verbs, by the addition of a preposition, become transitive, and so admit of a passive voice; as, the man laughed at; he was laughed at by the man.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
intransitive
adjective: designating a verb that does not require or cannot take a direct object [ant: {transitive}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
36 Moby Thesaurus words for "intransitive": adjectival, adverbial, attributive, auxiliary, auxiliary verb, conjunctive, copula, copulative, correct, defective verb, deponent verb, finite verb, formal, functional, glossematic, grammatic, impersonal verb, infinitive, intransitive verb, linking, linking verb, modal auxiliary, neuter verb, nominal, participial, postpositional, prepositional, pronominal, structural, substantive, syntactic, tagmemic, transitive, verb, verb phrase, verbal
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |