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

But everyone in the higher education world — students, staff, faculty and administrators — seems to agree that artificial intelligence is having and will continue to have a transformative impact on teaching, learning, research and work. — Tarini Mehta, Sacbee.com, 28 Sep. 2026

Ann Temkin, whose eighteen-year tenure as chief curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art proved transformative for the New York institution, will depart the role in January. — News Desk, Artforum, 28 Sep. 2026

SpaceX thinks this combination of power and reflight will be transformative, allowing humanity to expand its footprint into the final frontier like never before. — Mike Wall, Space.com, 28 Sep. 2026

Then communications aimed at fueling adoption overwhelmingly focus on transformative potential and disruption—and that becomes the centerpiece of marketing. — Larisa Summers, Forbes.com, 24 Sep. 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