Meaning & use
transmit
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To send a signal, message or piece of data from one place or device to another.
Grammar: Takes an object: transmit a signal; often followed by to or by a means: transmit by radio.
Patterns
- transmit something to someone
- transmit something by something
The station transmits its programs by satellite.
The sensor transmits readings to a central computer every minute.
The spacecraft transmitted photographs back to Earth.
verbtransitivemedical
To pass an illness, trait or quality on from one person or living thing to another.
Grammar: Takes an object, often a disease or gene; often used in the passive: the virus is transmitted by touch.
Patterns
- transmit something to someone
- be transmitted by something
Mosquitoes can transmit the disease to humans.
Some traits are transmitted from parents to children.
Washing your hands helps stop colds from being transmitted.
verbtransitivephysicstechnical
To allow heat, light, sound or electricity to pass through a material.
Grammar: The subject is a material: glass transmits light.
Patterns
- transmit something
Copper transmits electricity very well.
Glass transmits light but blocks most sound.
Water transmits sound faster than air.
verbtransitiveformal
To pass knowledge, culture or ideas on to later generations.
Grammar: Takes an object such as tradition or values.
Patterns
- transmit something to someone
Stories were transmitted orally for centuries.
The elders worked to transmit the language to the young.
Word forms
| third person singular | transmits |
|---|---|
| past tense | transmitted |
| past participle | transmitted |
| -ing form | transmitting |
Common combinations
- transmit a signal
- The tower transmits a signal across the valley.
- transmit data
- The device transmits data wirelessly.
- transmit a disease
- Ticks can transmit a serious disease.
- transmit information
- Nerves transmit information to the brain.
- sexually transmitted
- The clinic gives advice on sexually transmitted infections.
- transmit values
- Families transmit values to the next generation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- send
- Send is the everyday word for any dispatch, while transmit is more technical and used for signals and data.
- broadcast
- Broadcast means sending to a wide audience, particularly by radio or television, while transmit can be to a single receiver.
- spread
- Spread suggests something moving outward and growing, whereas transmit names passing from one carrier to the next.
- convey
- Convey is used for ideas or feelings, not for physical signals, so it has a softer sense than transmit.
Opposites
Word family
- transmission noun
- the act of sending or passing on something
- transmitter noun
- a device that sends out signals
- transmissible adjective
- able to be passed on
- retransmit verb
- to send something again
Commonly confused: transmit or transmute? transmit or transfer?
transmit vs transmute
Transmute means to change something into a different form, as in turning lead into gold, not to send it somewhere.
transmit vs transfer
Transfer means to move something from one place or person to another, while transmit especially suits signals, diseases and data.
Practice
Mosquitoes can ______ the virus to people through their bites.
Choose one answer.
Transmit is the verb for passing on a disease. Transport means to carry something physically, so it does not describe infection.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “transmit”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.