What does transmitting mean?
Transmitting is the present participle of the verb transmit and describes the act of sending or passing something from one place, person, or system to another. Its objects may be information, speech, data, electrical signals, energy, or biological material such as a virus. The word is especially common in technical and media contexts, where it suggests a process or an active signal; in general writing, it can simply mean communicating or spreading something. As an adjective, transmitting can describe equipment or a station that sends rather than receives signals, though this use is less frequent than the verbal form. Transmitting is useful because it foregrounds the movement of information and often implies an intermediary system, whether that is a radio transmitter, a network, or another person. The related terms transmission, transmitter, and transmissible preserve the same central idea: carrying something across a boundary.
To send or pass information, signals, energy, disease, or another thing from one place, person, or system to another.
"The network is transmitting updates to every connected device."
This is the present participle of transmit and is used in progressive or gerund constructions.
Serving to transmit, especially describing equipment or a station that sends signals.
"The transmitting station remained active throughout the night."
This attributive use is mainly technical and is less common than the verb form.
Transmitting literally means “sending across”: its Latin ancestor joined trans-, meaning “across,” to mittere, meaning “to send.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does transmitting come from?
Transmit comes from the Latin transmittere, formed from trans-, meaning “across,” and mittere, meaning “to send.” English borrowed the verb in the sense of sending or passing something onward. Its modern relatives transmission, transmitter, and transmissible developed from the same Latin root and continue to express the idea of carrying information or other material across a distance or boundary.
Related word forms
How transmitting is actually used
Transmitting is the present participle of transmit and is normally used in progressive constructions such as “is transmitting” or “are transmitting.” As an attributive modifier, it occurs in technical phrases such as “transmitting station” and “transmitting equipment.”