Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🚫 No direct object 🚫 Verb with no object
intransitive

intransitive

7.2
A verb that does not take a noun to receive the action
  • noun
  • /ˌɪnˈtrænzɪtɪv/
  • Specialized
translation icon : verbo intransitivo
  • In the sentence 'He sleeps,' the verb 'sleeps' is an intransitive verb because it does not take a direct object.

Examples

  • The verb 'arrive' is an intransitive, as it does not require an object.

  • In the sentence 'She laughed', 'laughed' functions as an intransitive.

  • Can you give an example of an intransitive in this sentence?

  • Many English verbs are intransitive.

  • Can you give me an example of an intransitive verb?

  • An example of an intransitive is the verb 'run,' which can stand alone without needing an object.

  • The verb 'cried' in the phrase 'She cried softly' is an intransitive because there is no direct object following it.

Synonyms

intransitive verb
vsintransitive
  • Specialized
7.5

A word that shows an action or state and does not need a thing after it

includes both verbs and verb constructions rather than only single verbs

Compounds

intransitive verb
  • Specialized
7.5

A word that shows an action or state and does not need a thing after it

How Transitive

transitive
  • Specialized
7.4
intransitive
  • Specialized
7.2

Surface Forms

intransitive singular
intransitives plural

Etymology

The word intransitive as a noun has the same Latin parts in- 'not' and transire 'to go across', like in transit, and it names a verb that does not pass its action to a direct object.