transitional

American  

[tran-zish-uh-nl, ‐-sish‐] / trænˈzɪʃ ə nl, ‐ˈsɪʃ‐ /

Also transitionary

adjective

1. of or relating to a transition from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another: transitional housing for people with serious mental illness.

   transitional governments;

   transitional housing for people with serious mental illness.

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Other Word Forms

• nontransitional adjective
• transitionally adverb

Etymology

Origin of transitional

First recorded in 1670–80; transition ( def. ) + -al ¹ ( def. )

Explanation

Sometimes people who have been laid off from their old jobs and haven’t been able to find new ones say they are in a transitional period. In other words, they are in the middle of a change. The adjective transitional relates to things such as governments, office spaces, or aspects of one’s life that are in the process of changing. This is a temporary state, until a permanent solution is established, and the word is often used with a sense of hope. For example, when someone goes through a romantic breakup and is hoping to find someone new, she might also say she is in a transitional phase. A synonym for transitional is interim.

Example Sentences

History will likely view the papacies of Francis and Leo as a transitional era for a Catholic Church slowly adjusting to a world in which the church’s future lies increasingly in the Global South.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026

It represents a transitional form, linking earlier Cambrian arthropods that seem to lack chelicera with later horseshoe crab-like species known as synziphosurines.

From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026

First Minister John Swinney said his government was providing more than £900m transitional relief for businesses.

From BBC • Apr. 1, 2026

Looking back, it seems from a technological standpoint that we were in a really important transitional time going into the ’90s.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

This innovation places the vessel at an important transitional stage in ship-building technology.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

Related Words

• capricious
• fickle
• fluctuating
• mercurial
• protean
• shifting
• unpredictable
• unsettled
• unstable
• varying
• volatile