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
  • What is known is that the virus is moving swiftly through a variety of species around the globe — with ample opportunity to mutate and adapt.
    Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 5 Dec. 2024
  • The conflict began in 2011 as an outgrowth of the regional Arab Spring movement, with protests against the Assad regime that quickly mutated into an insurgency after the regime’s brutal crackdown.
    Joshua Keating, Vox, 5 Dec. 2024
Verb
  • Transportation officials, in announcing last week that Daniel Carter Beard would not open in full until March, said the fire deformed some of the highway's steel beams, detaching them from the concrete deck above.
    Patricia Gallagher Newberry, The Enquirer, 3 Dec. 2024
  • Enright’s portrait of the mother is terrific — entitled, manipulative, addled, forlorn — as is her characterisation of each of the siblings whose personalities are formed, or deformed, in their mother’s shadow.
    Tomi Obaro, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2024
Verb
  • And the filmmaker, who’s disfigured himself, really wanted to bring it out in the open.
    Elena Nelson Howe, Los Angeles Times, 10 Dec. 2024
  • In Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man, Sebastian Stan stars as Edward Lemuel, a struggling actor with low self-esteem who undergoes a medical procedure to cure him of a condition called neurofibromatosis that has caused his face to be disfigured.
    Brande Victorian, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Dec. 2024
Verb
  • Over the years, Amazon’s transformation has redefined how people shop by offering convenience, variety, and competitive pricing.
    Tyler Shepherd, USA TODAY, 12 Dec. 2024
  • Dubai has redefined itself as a haven for global UHNWIs, offering an unparalleled blend of opportunity, security, and lifestyle.
    Arash Jalili, Forbes, 12 Dec. 2024
Verb
  • That would distort the market by essentially requiring any startup seeking to remain competitive to adopt the same playbook.
    Alex Heath, The Verge, 14 Dec. 2024
  • But Headland’s play distinguishes itself from the others by investigating these confrontations alongside pride: How does this sin, defined by blinding self-absorption and lack of humility, distort the Dahls’ love?
    Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Dec. 2024
Verb
  • The process was further modified to produce food for astronauts, and, later, refashioned to make fuel for planes, automobiles, and rocket ships.
    Adam Iscoe, The New Yorker, 25 Nov. 2024
  • Her songs are built around percussive amapiano beats, refashioned from ten-minute dance tracks into digestible hits.
    Justin Curto, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2024
Verb
  • The Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon was launched in 1979 and rode on the same platform until it was finally redesigned in 2019.
    Karl Brauer, Forbes, 9 Dec. 2024
  • The dining and bar cars have been thoughtfully redesigned to evoke intimacy and elegance, with soft lighting and marble columns as the focal points.
    Julianna Bragg, CNN, 9 Dec. 2024
Verb
  • Although the Fed's expected to trim its short-term, benchmark fed funds rate again by a quarter percentage point, many economists expect the central bank to signal a slower pace of rate cuts next year and revise its economic outlook.
    Medora Lee, USA TODAY, 17 Dec. 2024
  • Early reports were that at least four people were killed, though police have since revised that figure to three.
    Annabella Rosciglione, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 16 Dec. 2024

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Cite this Entry

“Transmogrify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/transmogrify. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

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