transformative

adjective

trans·​for·​ma·​tive tran(t)s-ˈfȯr-mə-tiv How to pronounce transformative (audio)
: causing or able to cause an important and lasting change in someone or something
a transformative experience
And she'll tell anyone who asks about her transformative weeks working for UNICEF in Congo and Cambodia.S. L. Price
It is increasingly hard to escape the conclusion that American politics has entered one of those rare transformative moments that shape the content of our public discourse and the direction of our governance for generations.Doug Ireland

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web AlphaFold—which DeepMind has made freely available along with a database that contains predicted structures for almost every protein known to biology—has been transformative. Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 28 Apr. 2023 Getting immersed in a virtual world through a headset that provides video and audio is one thing, but adding in touch is somehow transformative; physical interaction brings you into that virtual world in a much more direct way. IEEE Spectrum, 22 Apr. 2023 His vision for the county economically is transformative. ABC News, 16 Apr. 2023 In other words, for art to be transformative, artists need something to transform—perhaps something out of their own heads. Ellen Wexler, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Mar. 2023 Their scientific approach to lifestyle changes has been transformative. Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz, 7 Mar. 2023 For Greg Rice, ketamine was transformative. Chris Hamby, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2023 But physicists can be forgiven for overlooking the potentially transformative ideas within, as the volumes appear simultaneously amateurish and intimidating. Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 6 Apr. 2023 The bank’s economists also argued that it could be transformative for productivity and GDP growth. Bloomberg, Fortune, 5 Apr. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'transformative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1668, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of transformative was in 1668

Dictionary Entries Near transformative

Cite this Entry

“Transformative.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transformative. Accessed 30 May. 2023.

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