The term rank of a matrix A is the least number of lines (rows or columns) needed to include all the nonzero entries in A. In this paper, we obtain a characterization of linear transformations that preserve term ranks of matrices over antinegative semirings. That is, we show that a linear transformation T from a matrix space into another matrix space over antinegative semirings preserves term rank if and only if T preserves any two term ranks $k$ and $l$.