transmogrify

Synonym Chooser

How is the word transmogrify different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of transmogrify are convert, metamorphose, transfigure, transform, and transmute. While all these words mean "to change a thing into a different thing," transmogrify suggests a strange or preposterous metamorphosis.

a story in which a frog is transmogrified into a prince

When is convert a more appropriate choice than transmogrify?

While the synonyms convert and transmogrify are close in meaning, convert implies a change fitting something for a new or different use or function.

converted the study into a nursery

When is it sensible to use metamorphose instead of transmogrify?

The meanings of metamorphose and transmogrify largely overlap; however, metamorphose suggests an abrupt or startling change induced by or as if by magic or a supernatural power.

awkward girls metamorphosed into graceful ballerinas

In what contexts can transfigure take the place of transmogrify?

The synonyms transfigure and transmogrify are sometimes interchangeable, but transfigure implies a change that exalts or glorifies.

joy transfigured her face

When can transform be used instead of transmogrify?

While in some cases nearly identical to transmogrify, transform implies a major change in form, nature, or function.

transformed a small company into a corporate giant

When might transmute be a better fit than transmogrify?

In some situations, the words transmute and transmogrify are roughly equivalent. However, transmute implies transforming into a higher element or thing.

attempted to transmute lead into gold

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of transmogrify In that freedom, hip-hop music transmogrified from songs to studies. Keith Nelson, Men's Health, 12 Apr. 2023 In the 1980s and 1990s this transmogrified into an attack on science. Naomi Oreskes, Scientific American, 1 July 2020 After 40 years of getting worked over, Mercury would be transmogrified, or almost magically altered, and totally kaput. Adam Hadhazy, Popular Mechanics, 7 Mar. 2023 Or change its identity or transmogrify into a different social function of a space. Erik Morse, Vogue, 31 Jan. 2023 For those looking to dig deeper, here are the best books that deconstruct, analyze, and even transmogrify the star known as Marilyn Monroe. Nathan Smith, Vulture, 23 Sep. 2022 Cady seduces like a snake, charming his victims into their demise, but can as quickly transmogrify into a deranged beast striking fear into the Bowden family during a torrential storm. Lea Anderson, Men's Health, 29 Aug. 2022 For most basketball fans, that joy will transmogrify into disappointment, sadness or even fleeting anger once their favorite team is eliminated. Paul Eisenberg, chicagotribune.com, 21 Mar. 2021 Christians have been borrowing from other religions since the days when the pagan feast of Saturnalia transmogrified into Christmas and the Gaelic festival of Samhain became All Saints’ Day. The Economist, 24 Oct. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for transmogrify
Verb
  • In that text, words do not mutate or switch places.
    Louise Glück, The New Yorker, 4 Jan. 2025
  • When damaged, the cells may mutate and develop into cancer cells.4 Cancer developing in the pleura can cause fluid accumulation in the pleural space between the lungs and the chest wall.
    Oliver Eng, Health, 31 Dec. 2024
Verb
  • The lowest 688 feet of the ice core above the bedrock is made of older ice that is heavily deformed.
    Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 9 Jan. 2025
  • The team decided to use a shape-memory alloy called nitinol, made of nickel and titanium, which can be deformed at low temperatures, but then returns to its initial shape when heated.
    IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 14 Dec. 2024
Verb
  • An informant, who was a friend of Spafford, tipped off authorities in 2023, reporting that Spafford had disfigured his hand in 2021 while working with explosives.
    Dan Perry, Newsweek, 2 Jan. 2025
  • The investigation into Spafford began last year when a source told authorities that Spafford had disfigured his hand while working with a homemade explosive device, officials said.
    Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 31 Dec. 2024
Verb
  • Far from being a fleeting trend or a mere buzzword, digital transformation is redefining how supply chains operate, adapt, and compete in an increasingly complex environment.
    Kyle J. Russell, USA TODAY, 11 Jan. 2025
  • This partnership redefines design boundaries by seamlessly blending their distinctive styles.
    Essence, Essence, 10 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • Those contracts are known as production assistance agreements, and the claim references – but also distorts – both the regulations that govern them and two news stories about celebrities whose agreements were approved.
    Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY, 9 Jan. 2025
  • The Klan distorted the use of undercover operatives and informants, much as some Trump supporters have over Jan. 6.
    Brittany Friedman / Made by History, TIME, 6 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • And a reprise of a ballad about happy days, first played as a falsehood only to be refashioned as a genuine statement of rebirth, suggests inspiration momentarily winning over perspiration.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 4 Dec. 2024
  • To refashion your bathroom with an eye toward the classic style, read on for 17 timeless midcentury modern bathroom ideas.
    Rachel Davies, Architectural Digest, 11 Dec. 2024
Verb
  • This structural inequity points to a shortfall in the current retirement landscape and should be an impetus for companies to consider redesigning their retirement benefit plans.
    Shahar Ziv, Forbes, 9 Jan. 2025
  • The in-store experience will include red shopping bags, which symbolize good luck and prosperity in the new year, which have been redesigned with serpentine shapes in the classic T-monogram.
    Nick Hall, WWD, 7 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • Guess revised its full-year revenue guidance to 7-8% growth from a previous expectation of 9.5% and 11.0% growth.
    Trefis Team, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025
  • This bill revises laws related to private activity bonds.
    Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 1 Jan. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Transmogrify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/transmogrify. Accessed 18 Jan. 2025.

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