transfer

noun

(uncountable) The act of conveying or removing something from one place, person or thing to another.

(countable) An instance of conveying or removing from one place, person or thing to another; a transferal.

(countable, transport) An act of exiting one mass transit vehicle and boarding another (typically one belonging to a different line or mode of transportation) to continue a journey.

(countable, transport) A paper receipt given to a rider of one bus (and historically also certain elevated or subway lines), allowing free entry onto another bus to continue a journey.

(sports) A person who transfers or is transferred from one club or team to another.

(countable) A design conveyed by contact from one surface to another; a heat transfer.

(medicine) A pathological process by which a unilateral morbid condition on being abolished on one side of the body makes its appearance in the corresponding region upon the other side.

(genetics) The conveying of genetic material from one cell to another.

A soldier removed from one troop, or body of troops, and placed in another.

(bridge) A conventional bid which requests partner to bid the next available suit.

(countable) Of a person with limited mobility: an instance of independent or assisted movement from one stable surface to another.

(US, Canada, varsity sports) Ellipsis of transfer student. [A student who transfers from one university / college to another after studying there for a term / semester or more]

(uncountable, linguistics) Ellipsis of language transfer. [(linguistics, countable) Synonym of language shift.]

verb

(transitive) To move or pass from one place, person or thing to another.

(transport, of a traveler) To exit one mass transit vehicle and board another (typically one belonging to a different line or mode of transportation) to continue a journey.

(transitive) To convey the impression of (something) from one surface to another.

(transitive, law) To arrange for something to belong to or be officially controlled by somebody else.

(intransitive) To be or become transferred.

(intransitive) To move from a wheelchair to another seating surface, or to a wheelchair from another seating surface.

Roots

transtrans- · Latin · across, over fero-fer · Latin · carry, bear

Synonyms for transfer

transferencen conveyancen transmitv transportn shiftn transposen changen removev transplantn translocatev moven exchangen transitionn transmittaln

Synonyms & related words for transfer

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of transfer — including transference, conveyance, transmit, transport, shift, transpose. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to transfer

Explore words related to transfer — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include transferee, transferal, reassign, transferor, untransferable, transportation, transship, quitclaim. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for transfer

Common synonyms for transfer include transference, conveyance, transmit, transport, shift, transpose, change, remove — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does transfer come from?

The word transfer breaks down into 2 roots of Latin origin: trans-, from Latin trans (“across, over”); and -fer, from Latin fero (“carry, bear”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.