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

Its eye-catching geometric door panels complement contemporary, midcentury modern, and transitional interiors alike. —Jacquelyn McGilvray, PEOPLE, 20 Dec. 2025

Five new Mobile Resource Vehicles will help reduce recidivism among juveniles, people experiencing homelessness, transitional-age youth and other populations by removing access barriers and strengthening compliance with court orders, Orange County Probation Department officials said. —Mona Darwish, Oc Register, 20 Dec. 2025

Inside a building on East Main Street in Lansdale, renovations are well underway at the future site of Montgomery County's very first 24/7 transitional housing facility. —Nikki Dementri, CBS News, 19 Dec. 2025

Prep’s moment continues, with an emphasis on color and practical layering that feels apt for transitional dressing, and a little more expressive than uniform. —Andrea Zendejas, Vogue, 16 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1819, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for transitional

• additional
• conditional
• nutritional
• positional
• traditional
• volitional
• compositional
• definitional
• depositional
• dispositional
• intuitional
• nontraditional

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)