transit

UK: /ˈtrænsɪt/ US: /ˈtrænsɪt, -zɪt/ ,(tran′sit, -zit)

Inflections of 'transit' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

transits

v 3rd person singular

transiting

v pres p

transited

v past

transited

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

tran•sit /ˈtrænsɪt, -zɪt/   n. 

[uncountable]
1. passage from one place to another;
   transportation:
   The airline advised that our clothes were still in transit.
2. a system of public transportation, esp. in an urban area:
   mass transit.

v. [no object]

3. to make a transit.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

tran•sit  (tran′sit, -zit), n., v., -sit•ed, -sit•ing. 
n. 

1. the act or fact of passing across or through;
   passage from one place to another.
2. Transport conveyance or transportation from one place to another, as of persons or goods, esp., local public transportation:
   city transit.
   Cf. mass transit. 
3. a transition or change.
4. [Astron.]
   • the passage of a heavenly body across the meridian of a given location or through the field of a telescope.
   • the passage of Mercury or Venus across the disk of the sun, or of a satellite or its shadow across the face of its primary.
   • See meridian circle. 
5. Astrology the passage of a planet in aspect to another planet or a specific point in a horoscope.
6. [Survey.]
   • Also called transit instrument. an instrument, as a theodolite, having a telescope that can be transited, used for measuring horizontal and sometimes vertical angles.
   • a repeating transit theodolite.
7. ([cap.] ) [U.S. Aerospace.] one of a series of satellites for providing positional data to ships and aircraft.

v.t. 

8. to pass across or through.
9. [Survey.] to turn (the telescope of a transit) in a vertical plane in order to reverse direction;
   plunge.
10. [Astron.] to cross (a meridian, celestial body, etc.).

v.i. 

11. to pass over or through something;
    make a transit.
12. [Astron.] to make a transit across a meridian, celestial body, etc.

• Latin trānsitus a going across, passage, equivalent. to trānsi-, variant stem of trānsīre to cross (trāns- trans- + -īre to go) + -tus suffix of verb, verbal action
• late Middle English (noun, nominal and verb, verbal) 1400–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

transit / ˈtrænsɪt ˈtrænz-/ noun

1. the passage or conveyance of goods or people
2. (as modifier): a transit visa
3. a change or transition
4. a route
5. the passage of a celestial body or satellite across the face of a relatively larger body as seen from the earth
6. the apparent passage of a celestial body across the meridian, caused by the earth's diurnal rotation
7. in transit ⇒ while being conveyed; during passage

verb

1. to make a transit through or over (something)

Etymology: 15th Century: from Latin transitus a going over, from transīre to pass over; see transient