transitively, adv.
(ˈtrɑːnsɪtɪvlɪ, ˈtræns-, -nz-)
[f. prec. + -ly2.]
In a transitive manner; in the way of transition. a. Gram. In a transitive sense or construction; with a direct object.
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. vii. 7. 20 The woord might also be taken transityvely for too settle or stablish David in his ryght. a 1638 Mede Wks. (1672) 676 To construe the words transitively. 1737 Waterland Doctr. Eucharist v. 115 Ευλογειν is taken transitively in this very Case by the Apostle. Mod. Many verbs in English can be used both transitively and intransitively. |
b. (See senses 3 and 4 of transitive.)
| 1656 Jeanes Fulness Christ 32 The divine properties are communicated to the humanity, not transitively, but intransitively. 1660 Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. ii. ii. rule vi. §4 Vasquez..thinks it lawful to give Divine worship relatively or transitively to a man. 1822 T. Taylor Apuleius 310 It will always perceive intellectually, without transition, or transitively. 1855 Pusey Doctr. Real Presence Note Q. 257 The bread still remains in its own substance; yet so that the whole proposition should be understood, not as actually, but transitively. ‘This is my Body’, i.e. passes into the body, or from this becomes the body. |
c. Math. and Logic. (See senses 6 and 7 of transitive a.)
| 1889 [see intransitive a. 4]. 1971 C. W. Curtis in Powell & Higman Finite Simple Groups iii. 139 Any two bases of a root system Δ are conjugate by an element of the Weyl group (i.e., W(Δ) acts transitively on the set of bases). |