# transition

> English word · Noun · IPA /tɹænˈzɪ.ʃən/ · frequency rank #3,268

## Definitions
1. The process of change from one form, state, style or place to another.
2. A word or phrase connecting one part of a discourse to another.
3. A brief modulation; a passage connecting two themes.
4. A change of key.
5. A point mutation in which one base is replaced by another of the same class (purine or pyrimidine); compare transversion.
6. A change from defense to attack, or attack to defense.
7. The onset of the final stage of childbirth.
8. Professional special education assistance for children or adults in the process of leaving one educational environment or support program for another to relatively more independent living.
9. A change between forward and backward motion without stopping.
10. The process or act of changing one's gender role or physical and sexual characteristics, by social, medical, or legal methods, to conform to their identified gender, rather than the sex assigned at birth.
11. A published procedure for instrument flight, coming between the departure and en-route phases of flight, or between en-route flight and an approach/landing procedure.
12. Death; passing from life into death.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Middle French transitionbor.
English transition
From Middle French transition, from Latin transitio. By surface analysis, transit + -ion.

## Easily confused with
- **transitive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/transition-vs-transitive)
- **translation** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/transition-vs-translation)
- **transitional** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/transition-vs-transitional)
- **tradition** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tradition-vs-transition)
- **transaction** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/transaction-vs-transition)

## Common misspellings (16)
`rtansition`, `tarnsition`, `tranistion`, `trannsition`, `transiiton`, `transision`, `transitino`, `transitionn`, `transitoin`, `transittion`, `transsition`, `transtiion`, `trasnition`, `trnasition`, `trransition`, `ttransition`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/transition