n. [ L. transitio: cf. F. transition. See Transient. ] 1. Passage from one place or state to another; charge; as, the transition of the weather from hot to cold. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is no death, what seems so is transition. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mus.) A direct or indirect passing from one key to another; a modulation. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Rhet.) A passing from one subject to another. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ He ] with transition sweet, new speech resumes. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Biol.) Change from one form to another. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This word is sometimes pronounced but according to Walker, Smart, and most other authorities, the customary and preferable pronunciation is although this latter mode violates analogy. Other authorities say [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to transition; involving or denoting transition; as, transitional changes; transitional stage. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Transitional. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Biogeography) The zone lying between the Boreal and Sonoran zones of North America. It includes an eastern or humid subdivision and a western arid one of corresponding temperature comprising the northern Great Plains and the lower slopes of the mountains of the western United States and Mexico. Called also Neutral zone. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]