from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Transition \Tran*si"tion\, 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.
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There is no death, what seems so is transition.
--Longfellow.
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2. (Mus.) A direct or indirect passing from one key to
another; a modulation.
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3. (Rhet.) A passing from one subject to another.
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[He] with transition sweet, new speech resumes.
--Milton.
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4. (Biol.) Change from one form to another.
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Note: This word is sometimes pronounced tran*sish"un; but
according to Walker, Smart, and most other authorities,
the customary and preferable pronunciation is
tran*sizh"un, although this latter mode violates
analogy. Other authorities say tran*zish"un.
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{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.
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