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 During the negotiations between Obama and Raúl, there was still the idea that somehow parts of the revolution—its socialist project—could be saved, and that Cuba could somehow transmogrify into a fairer, more modern place with a social cradle. Caroline Mimbs Nyce, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025 Unlike conventional corn syrup, a form of glucose derived from starch that has been around for over 200 years, high fructose corn syrup wasn’t developed until after World War II, when scientists in Japan began tinkering with the grain, hoping to transmogrify this staple into new products. Stephen Mihm, Mercury News, 5 Aug. 2025 In that freedom, hip-hop music transmogrified from songs to studies. Keith Nelson, Men's Health, 12 Apr. 2023 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 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 In the 1980s and 1990s this transmogrified into an attack on science. Naomi Oreskes, Scientific American, 1 July 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for transmogrify
Verb
  • This dark side to Gen Z’s millennial backlash and desire to relive the turn of the millennium is showing signs of mutating in disturbing and unprecedented directions.
    Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
  • While major advancements have been made to make pneumonia a survivable illness, the infection is hard to eradicate because it can be caused by a number of different fungi, viruses and bacteria which can mutate into different strains.
    Helen Carefoot, Flow Space, 20 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • In the past few years, the nation’s collective memory—never the strongest—has been relentlessly deformed by right-wing propaganda.
    Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
  • The membrane bottleneck Most TFC membranes today can handle about 15-20 bar pressure before deforming.
    Tejasri Gururaj, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The violence eventually enters the apartment when Rezvan’s free-spirited college friend, Safdaf (Niousha Akhshi), gets hit in the face by buckshot at a demonstration, leaving her disfigured and possibly blind in one eye.
    Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 20 Oct. 2025
  • Last seen horrifically disfigured and injured on Earth-X, Peacemaker's alternate-universe brother survived despite Harcourt's attempt to kill him.
    Sydney Bucksbaum, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The breakthrough could redefine the future of virtual and augmented reality by creating visuals that look identical to real life.
    Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 24 Oct. 2025
  • ChatGPT’s voice mode has redefined human-computer interaction.
    Victor Riparbelli, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Scans revealed the magnets had clustered into four chains in the lower-right side of his abdomen, pulling together different sections of his bowel with their magnetic force, the report said, noting some imagery was distorted by the magnets.
    Hanna Park, CNN Money, 27 Oct. 2025
  • This dynamic suppresses wages and distorts labor competition.
    Billal Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • This team, no wait, this organization has been refashioned in Jokic's image.
    Troy Renck, Denver Post, 21 Oct. 2025
  • But now social media is eating media-media’s lunch, nibbling into time that used to be spent watching TV and movies, particularly for younger generations, and refashioning itself less as a network and more as a broadcaster.
    Julie Beck, The Atlantic, 16 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The first areas to get Brudnizki’s Midas touch were the pool—now with jaunty red-orange umbrellas—the casual Splendido Grill adjacent to the pool, and the Baronessa Suite, which were redesigned in 2023.
    Laura Itzkowitz, Robb Report, 23 Oct. 2025
  • In surveys, more than half of companies expect to raise deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, or otherwise redesign plans to temper the trend.
    Ashley Lutz, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • California is voting on a proposition that would revise the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats in response to Republican gerrymandering in other states.
    Richard Hall, Time, 25 Oct. 2025
  • Police initially reported the crash involved nine vehicles, but later revised that to seven vehicles.
    Katie Langford, Denver Post, 25 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Transmogrify.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/transmogrify. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.

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