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

Example 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
  • Today, nearly all of the world’s polio cases — mostly in Africa and the Middle East — are mutated viruses from the oral vaccine, except for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
    Riazat Butt, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2025
  • Plus, the coronavirus is constantly mutating, producing new versions that have been able to evade immune protection from vaccination or previous infection.
    Tom Gavin, EverydayHealth.com, 24 July 2025
Verb
  • Babies born with this disease can have deformed bones, low blood counts, jaundice and organ dysfunction, including problems with the brain and nervous system or enlarged liver and spleen.
    Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 14 Aug. 2025
  • The grandfather also showed him the sorry sight of contemporary hedges deformed by diabolical flail trimmers that chewed the natural architecture of branches into an anarchy of twigs.
    Annie Proulx, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • However, Michaela reveals the truth is actually that Jocelyn became a recluse 10 years prior because she was disfigured by plastic surgery after her and Peter's divorce.
    Megan McCluskey, Time, 22 May 2025
  • The talent is still, clearly, there, but the end result is misguided, disfigured, and simply no fun.
    Derek Robertson, The Washington Examiner, 25 July 2025
Verb
  • Banks, fintechs, and big tech firms will leverage both maturing and emerging technologies to redefine digital banking experiences, ultimately reshaping the financial landscape.
    Forrester, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2025
  • German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is looking to redefine Germany’s voice in Europe and build a relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump — who many of Merz’s European colleagues do not see eye to eye with.
    Sophie Kiderlin, CNBC, 15 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • In The Harvard Gazette, psychiatrist Mark Epstein explained how the ego distorts reality by tying us to fear and desire, which clouds our ability to truly see what’s happening.
    Wilson Luna, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Last week, a user was even able to prompt it to deliver a profane rant against Musk and others for trying distort the reality of the Israel-Hamas war.
    Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 11 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • Yet most academy members would likely not want classic rock perpetually refashioned with AI for an endless nostalgia ouroboros.
    August Brown, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2025
  • The repeal, which is not yet final, seeks to refashion a policy that created three broad tiers of countries for regulating the export of chips from Nvidia Corp. and others.
    Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 8 May 2025
Verb
  • Too often, companies are layering AI on top of existing workflows instead of redesigning the workflows around AI.
    Oleksandr Sheremeta, Forbes.com, 13 Aug. 2025
  • In Savannah's North Historic District, the six-story former bank building has been redesigned by Canadian architecture firm AAmp Studio with design input from the Death & Co. team.
    Maya Kachroo-Levine, Travel + Leisure, 12 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • The company also updated its guidance, revising its adjusted EBITDA range upwards by $5 million on the back and front ends.
    Glenn Taylor, Sourcing Journal, 6 Aug. 2025
  • Trump didn’t like the fact that the BLS revised downward its jobs reports for April and May.
    Robert B. Reich, Hartford Courant, 5 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Transmogrify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/transmogrify. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.

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