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

Stressing the need for Apple to continue growing its services business, Cue is on record as saying at one of Google’s antitrust trials that AI is a transformative technology. — Morgan Chittum, CNBC, 25 Aug. 2026

Much like the transformative powers of water and light, Plessi also found the digital to be spiritual. — Francesca Aton, ARTnews.com, 25 Aug. 2026

Both culminated in victorious maneuvers—transformative legislation, Supreme Court decisions that expanded rights—but they were preceded by decades of cultural change. — Dhruv Khullar, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2026

The reason Lee sees the potential transformative opportunity from the departure is twofold. — Tom Bogert, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1668, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for transformative

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