Learn English – Is “transitionable” a valid word

derivational-morphologyis-it-a-word

I want to say that a task should be made to be transitionable, meaning it should be easy to transition the task to another person without requiring an extensive amount of training. My spell checker does not accept it as a word, and even Google asks "Did you mean transition?"

I think it's valid, being a construction of the verb transition and the suffix -able, but would like to get confirmation (or an alternative, if it's invalid) from experts before committing it to a written document.

The only results I find for transitionable are in the context of highly technical usage, like mathematics and computer animation.

Best Answer

Transition is recognized as a verb {editorial: alas!} but it probably hasn't become widely accepted as a transitive verb.

Dictionary.reference.com sayeth:

Transition verb (used without object) 4. to make a transition: He had difficulty transitioning from enlisted man to officer. 5. to change from one gender identity to another or to align one's dress, behavior, etc., with one's gender identity: My friend is transitioning without hormone therapy or surgery.

If we accept this as authoritative, we may hunker down behind its bastion against the advancing hordes, and disavow/disallow "transitionable" in the sense given above.

Related Topic