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intransitive verb

American  

noun

  1. a verb that indicates a complete action without being accompanied by a direct object, as sit or lie, and, in English, that does not form a passive.

intransitive verb Cultural  

  1. A verb that does not need a direct object to complete its meaning. Run, sleep, travel, wonder, and die are all intransitive verbs. (Compare transitive verb.)

Discover More

Some verbs can be intransitive in one sentence and transitive in another. Boiled is intransitive in “My blood boiled” but transitive in “I boiled some water.”

Etymology

Origin of intransitive verb

First recorded in 1605–15

Compare meaning

How does intransitive-verb compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.