Sentence:  All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill....Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion&mdash;or rather as a <WSD>transition</WSD> from the subject that started their conversation&mdash;such talk had been distressingly out of place. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The process of change from one form, state, style or place to another.