Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Transition
1.
Passage from one place or state to another; charge;
as, the
. transition
of the weather from hot to coldThere is no death, what seems so is
transition
. Longfellow.
2.
(Mus.)
A direct or indirect passing from one key to another; a modulation.
3.
(Rhet.)
A passing from one subject to another.
[He] with
transition
sweet, new speech resumes. Milton.
4.
(Biol.)
Change from one form to another.
☞ This word is sometimes pronounced
tran-sish′un
; but according to Walker, Smart, and most other authorities, the customary and preferable pronunciation is tran-sizh′un
, although this latter mode violates analogy. Other authorities say tran-zish′un
. Transition rocks
(Geol.)
, a term formerly applied to the lowest uncrystalline stratified rocks (graywacke) supposed to contain no fossils, and so called because thought to have been formed when the earth was passing from an uninhabitable to a habitable state.
Webster 1828 Edition
Transition
TRANSI'TION
,Noun.
The spots are of the same color throughout, there being an immediate transition from white to black.
1.
In rhetoric, a passing from one subject to another. This should be done by means of some connection in the parts of the discourse, so as to appear natural and easy. He with transition sweet new speech resumes.
2.
In music, a change of key from major to minor, or the contrary; or in short, a change from any one genus or key to another; also, the softening of a disjunct interval by the introduction of intermediate sounds.Transition rocks, in geology, rocks supposed to have been formed when the world was passing from an uninhabitable to a habitable state. These rocks contain few organic remains, and when they occur with others, lie immediately over those which contain none, and which are considered as primitive.