transformative

adjective

trans·​for·​ma·​tive tran(t)s-ˈfȯr-mə-tiv 

: 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

Examples of transformative in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

What could have been a transformative meditation on mourning too often slips into surface-level spectacle, leaving the audience to piece together meaning from a scattershot collage of influences. —David Hochman, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025

And, for many, focusing on small projects as part of a month-long organizing challenge can be transformative. —The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Sep. 2025

Some Cosmists saw technology as destructive and transformative, while others believed its role should be to protect and preserve. —Tim Brinkhof, Big Think, 12 Sep. 2025

Drawing on his extensive study of history, which spans 500 years and covers the rise and fall of empires, Dalio sees a historical precedent for such transformative shifts. —Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 12 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1668, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for transformative

• germinative
• corroborative
• determinative
• forgive
• ogive
• outlive
• relive
• give
• sieve
• resistive