Standard Lemma guide

transpire

verb · 10 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /tɹænˈspaɪ̯ə(ɹ)/
  • US: /tɹænˈspaɪ̯ɚ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -aɪə(ɹ)
  • CMU ARPABET: T R AE0 N S P AY1 ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To give off (vapour, waste matter etc.); to exhale (an odour etc.).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: ambitransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To perspire.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive, obsolete

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sweat

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

Of plants, to give off water and waste products through the stomata.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

To become known; to escape from secrecy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

Examples

  • It eventually transpired that the murder victim had been a notorious blackmailer.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: come to light, emerge, develop

Antonyms: none provided

5

verb

Meaning 5

To happen, take place.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: come about, come to pass, occur, bechance, befall, behap, belimp, betide, betime, beworth, chance, crop up, evene, eventuate, go on, hap, happen, hold, pass, take place, tide, transpire

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

give off (water) through the skin

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: exude, exudate, transude, ooze out, ooze

7

verb

Meaning 7

come about, happen, or occur

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Several important events transpired last week

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: happen, hap, go on, pass off, occur, pass, fall out, come about, take place

8

verb

Meaning 8

come to light; become known

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • It transpired that she had worked as spy in East Germany

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: change

9

verb

Meaning 9

exude water vapor

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • plants transpire

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: evaporate, vaporize, vaporise

10

verb

Meaning 10

pass through the tissue or substance or its pores or interstices, as of gas

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: transpirate

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: flow, flux

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French transpirer, from Medieval Latin transpirare (“to breathe through”), from Latin trans (“across”) spirare (“to breathe”). The sense “to become known” is also present in French, while the sense “to happen” is not; the latter probably developed in English from the former.

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: transpirar — to give off
  • Chinese Mandarin: 散發 /散发 (sànfā) — to give off
  • Finnish: erittää — to give off
  • Finnish: huokua — to give off
  • French: transpirer — to give off
  • Hungarian: kiad — to give off
  • Hungarian: kibocsát — to give off
  • Hungarian: áraszt — to give off
  • Japanese: 発散する (hassan suru) — to give off
  • Polish: transpirować — to give off
  • Catalan: transpirar — botany: to give off water and waste products through the stomata
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蒸騰 /蒸腾 (zhēngténg) — botany: to give off water and waste products through the stomata
  • Finnish: haihduttaa — botany: to give off water and waste products through the stomata
  • French: transpirer — botany: to give off water and waste products through the stomata
  • Galician: transpirar — botany: to give off water and waste products through the stomata
  • Hungarian: kipárologtat — botany: to give off water and waste products through the stomata
  • Hungarian: kigőzölögtet — botany: to give off water and waste products through the stomata
  • Māori: tukuwai — botany: to give off water and waste products through the stomata
  • Polish: transpirować — botany: to give off water and waste products through the stomata
  • Vietnamese: thoát hơi nước — botany: to give off water and waste products through the stomata
  • Catalan: transpirar — to become known
  • Chinese Mandarin: 洩露 /泄露 (xièlù) — to become known
  • Finnish: käydä ilmi — to become known
  • Finnish: tulla ilmi — to become known
  • Finnish: tulla tietoon — to become known
  • Finnish: paljastua — to become known
  • French: transpirer — to become known
  • Greek: μαθεύομαι (mathévomai) — to become known
  • Hungarian: kiderül — to become known
  • Hungarian: kitudódik — to become known
  • Japanese: 明らかになる (akiraka ninaru) — to become known
  • Polish: okazywać się — to become known
  • Polish: okazać się — to become known