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

Well, whatever your reason, the midi-length pencil skirt is a nice transitional piece for winter days that don’t merit a whole tights-and-peacoat situation but are still too chilly for a miniskirt, and the garment is surprisingly versatile. —Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 25 Nov. 2025

The State Department’s decision comes amid intensifying political infighting and maneuvering by members of the ruling transitional presidential council to oust Prime Minister Alix Dider Fils-Aimé, less than there months before the transition is scheduled to end. —Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 25 Nov. 2025

The country, which has not held elections since 2016, has since been governed by a transitional presidential council currently led by Laurent Saint-Cyr, the local head of the American Chamber of Commerce. —Simon Crerar, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Nov. 2025

So, what happens when a leader isn’t capable of providing transitional guidance during change management? —Vicki Salemi, Boston Herald, 24 Nov. 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)