trans-

Also found in: Medical, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

trans-

(word root) through, across, beyond

Examples of words with the root trans-: transportation, transaction

trans-

pref.

1. Across; on the other side; beyond: transpolar.

2. Through: transcontinental.

3. Change; transfer: transliterate.

4. Having a pair of identical atoms on opposite sides of two atoms linked by a double bond. Used of a geometric isomer: trans-butene.

[From Latin trāns-, from trāns, across, beyond, through; see terə- in Indo-European roots.]

trans-

or sometimes before s-

tran-

prefix

1. across, beyond, crossing, on the other side: transoceanic; trans-Siberian; transatlantic.

2. changing thoroughly: transliterate.

3. transcending: transubstantiation.

4. transversely: transect.

5. (Elements & Compounds) (often in italics) indicating that a chemical compound has a molecular structure in which two groups or atoms are on opposite sides of a double bond: trans-butadiene. Compare cis-²

[from Latin trāns across, through, beyond]

trans-

1. a prefix meaning “across,” “through,” occurring orig. in loanwords from Latin, used in particular to form verbs denoting movement or conveyance from place to place (transfer; transmit; transplant) or complete change (transform; transmute), or to form adjectives meaning “crossing,” “on the other side of,” or “going beyond” the place named (transmontane; transnational; trans-Siberian).

2. a prefix used in the names of chemical compounds that are geometric isomers having two identical atoms or groups attached on opposite sides of a molecule divided by a given plane of symmetry. Compare cis- (def. 2).

[< Latin, prefixal use of trāns (preposition) across, through]

trans.

1. transaction.

2. transfer.

3. transferred.

4. transformer.

5. transit.

6. transitive.

7. translated.

8. translation.

9. translator.

10. transparent.

11. transportation.

12. transpose.

13. transverse.

Translations

trans-

pref → trans-, Trans-

trans-

(trӕns) , (trӕnz)

across or through.

References in classic literature ?

I asked them if they supposed a nation of people ever existed, who, with a free vote in every man's hand, would elect that a single family and its descendants should reign over it forever, whether gifted or boobies, to the exclusion of all other families -- including the voter's; and would also elect that a certain hundred families should be raised to dizzy summits of rank, and clothed on with offensive trans- missible glories and privileges to the exclusion of the rest of the nation's families -- INCLUDING HIS OWN.

View in context

The sun was just setting, and the Clock Tower and the Houses of Parliament rose against one of the most peaceful skies it is possible to imagine, a sky of gold, barred with long trans- verse stripes of reddish-purple cloud.

View in context

He was different: innocent of heart, and full of good will, which no- body wanted, this castaway, that, like a man trans- planted into another planet, was separated by an immense space from his past and by an immense ignorance from his future.