A Dictionary of Philosophy, Third Edition
. A relation holding from a to b and from b to c is transitive if it must hold from a to c, whatever a, b and c may be (ancestor of).
It is intransitive if it cannot (father of), and non-transitive if it may or may not (fond of). ‘Non-transitive’ occasionally includes ‘intransitive’. (The qualification ‘whatever a, b and c may be’ is needed to exclude certain rogue cases like results in less than ten when added to, which looks transitive if a, b and c are, respectively, 2, 3 and 4, but is not if they are, respectively, 6, 2 and 7.)
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