Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To change into a different shape or form, especially one that is fantastic or bizarre. See Synonyms at convert.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To transform into some other person or thing, as by magic; convert or transform in general.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To completely alter the form of.
- v. intransitive To completely alter one's form.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. colloq. To change into a different shape; to transform.
WordNet 3.0
- v. change completely the nature or appearance of
Etymologies
- Origin uncertain, but possibly from transmigure or transmigrate. It is also possible that this word is a formation derived from maugre, hence it originally signified the "evil eye", but under the influence of the former etymologies shifted its meaning to its sense of "transformation". Another possibility is a humorous blending of transfigure and modify. (Wiktionary)
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“As most of you know I don't play memes unless I can transmogrify them into something strange, but this one caught my eye and I'll play it straight.”
“For every one person like Keith I've ever known -- for every person who's ever fanatically endeavored to transmogrify the beautiful love of God into the horrible hatred of men -- I've known 200 who are quiety and humbly working, in Christ's name, to make the world a better, more loving place for all.”
The Huffington Post: John Shore: Christians For A Moral America Pray For George Michael's Death
“I wonder if this exchange will transmogrify to become: “I was debating President Obama last week …””
“Like previous stories, these characters continue to transmogrify in new and imaginative ways while providing a platform for witty dialogue and characterizations.”
“The colour-coded branding will accompany the whole of the BBC's coverage – orange for the 70-day torch relay and gold for the Olympics itself although no word on whether this will imperceptibly transmogrify into bronze, depending on the performance of Team GB.”
“Neither Ireland, Greece nor Portugal has yet managed to so transmogrify itself, and so if the ECB's interest rate suits Germany, it won't suit them.”
The Wall Street Journal: Euro Zone Risks Exodus of Weaklings
“Is he a solid Conservative not likely to transmogrify into a RINO in DC?”
Announcement by Michael Williams (R Cand, TX-SEN) campaign tomorrow. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState
“This is supposed to comfort you, because just as easily as Mr. Burnett got himself into this slump, he supposedly will snap out of it and transmogrify into Ubaldo Jimenez.”
The Wall Street Journal: What's Eating A.J.? Theories Abound
“Does anyone really expect Mr. Woods to transmogrify into Mr. Rogers?”
The Wall Street Journal: No Brain Space for a New Tiger Saga
“I repeated the same exchange I had with the nurse and watched him transmogrify from caregiver to insurance corporation Hessian, even though my entire visit was covered by the state.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘transmogrify’.
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Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 269 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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mots justes
No true synonyms, no other word will do.
dysphemism, nyehre, conflate, onomatopœic, galumph, zeitgeist, mercenary, theomeny, git, snarky, sass, smarmy and 46 more...
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trans-
across or beyond; on or to the other side; through; going beyond
transcendent, transform, transonic, transalpine, transcontinental, transparent, transparency, transportation, transport, transatlantic, transfer, translate and 30 more...
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The Times
umbrageous, libidinaly, dicastery, millenarian, penultimate, eschatological, construe, heuristic, transmogrify, fulgurating, inimical
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verbs
recidivate, ampliate, prolate, liming, assoilzie, obtest, mazarine, minify, deprehend, dry-beat, defease, smit and 8 more...
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rare words that might be useful
transmogrify, fastidiousness, interiority, indecorous, procrustean, vociferous, descry, solecism, apogee, progeny, envisage, anteroom and 3 more...
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inquiryqueue's list
words delicious to pronounce
apostrophe, asphodel, anemone, cantaloupe, cantalevered, cardamom, coriander, petrichor, sycamore, luminous, tendril, peculiar and 122 more...
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Mystery
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jeffreytwhitney's list
abecedarian, assonance, prolix, avuncular, baleful, borborygmus, accismus, atavism, catachresis, coruscant, callipygian, carbuncle and 117 more...
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ecbrenner's list
flatline, luddism, apocalipstick, muttsucker, leviathan of fore..., flint, coryphaeus, donnybrook, bandwidth, bagpipe the mizen, cheesed off, asterism and 525 more...
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MiaLuthien's list ♥
gambit, prehensile, coquetry, impunity, genuflect, ensconce, clavicle, delude, beget, castigate, life caching, convoluted and 478 more...
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Advanced Words: Part II
facetious, felicitous, grandiloquent, germane, repatriate, exigency, exculpate, etheral, fatuous, heterogeneous, hiatus, idiosyncrasy and 118 more...
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Verba Dilecta
delectable, notate, pauciloquy, paucity, pauciloquent, paucify, interscapilium, uropygium, inferna, nota, equipollent, prepollent and 677 more...
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Magoosh GRE
its a list of words borrowed from Magoosh GRE blog ,an indispensable resource for GRE test takers.
inimitable, exiguity, myriad, cornucopia, surfeit, glut, deluge, opaque, pellucid, grandiloquent, turgid, gadfly and 106 more...
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Appellations
States of ment.
off kilter, fervent, nonchalant, exuberant, turbid, verbose, eloquent, vicarious, gallivant, orotund, amalgamate, accentuate and 285 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for transmogrify.
valse Heh, probably Buffy for me. Or was that transmutation? Feb 8, 2007
vmarinelli Oh, excellent! Glad to know it wasn't just me. :) Feb 8, 2007
uselessness I'm embarrassed to say that I first learned this word on Neopets many years ago. I thought it was made-up, too... that site invents a lot of goofy fantastical words and phrases. Feb 6, 2007
seanahan This word does seem made up, and I can never seem to remember the definition, so every time I look it up I think, "Wow, what a great word!" Feb 6, 2007
vmarinelli For years, I thought this was a made-up word, because of the context in which I first encountered it: the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. Feb 6, 2007