transitional

adjective

tran·​si·​tion·​al tran(t)-ˈsi-sh(ə-)nəl 

tran(t)-ˈsi-zh(ə-)nəl,

tran-ˈzi-sh(ə-)nəl 

: marked by transition : involving, providing, or consisting of a passage, movement, or change from one state, condition, subject, place, etc., to another

a transitional passage in music

They are often transitional areas between water environments and dry land, and are populated by many trees and plants that can put up with the occasional flood …

—JoAnn Shroyer

The social worlds of neighborhood and village are now less important as transitional zones between home and nonhome settings.

—Theano S. Terkenli

… turning into a civilian coup, that … established a transitional government and prepared the way for multi-party elections.

—Larry Diamond

… an animal about the size of a turkey that they contend was a flightless bird, a transitional figure between some carnivorous dinosaurs and modern birds.

—John Noble Wilford

transitionally adverb

The problem then is to structure a sequence of reforms that is politically consistent with the social mores of the Soviet Union, economically coherent, and transitionally sound …

—Edgar L. Feige

Examples of transitional in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Dyer said Fresno spends about $15 million on shelter services per year, which helped fund about 1,400 year-round emergency shelter and transitional housing beds. —Vanessa Rancaño, NPR, 28 Dec. 2024

In response to concerns about timing for compliance, the effective date for reporting for covered transactions is on or after January 1, 2027 and IRS Notice 2025-3 provides transitional relief from broker reporting penalties and backup withholding. —Joshua D. Smeltzer, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2024

The new administration has also appointed a caretaker prime minister to lead a transitional government until March 2025, and has promised that a legal committee will draft a new constitution. —Natasha Frost, New York Times, 26 Dec. 2024

The transitional government is under-resourced and under-staffed, unable to effectively govern the various power factions forming in the vacuum. —Timothy Nerozzi, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 26 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1819, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

transitional

adjective

tran·​si·​tion·​al

-ˈish-nəl, -ˈizh-ən-ᵊl

1

: of, relating to, or characterized by transition

2

: of, relating to, or being epithelium (as in the urinary bladder) that consists of several layers of soft cuboidal cells which become flattened when stretched (as when the bladder is distended)