metamorphosis
Biology. a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly.: Compare complete metamorphosis.
a complete change of form, structure, or substance, as transformation by magic or witchcraft.
any complete change in appearance, character, circumstances, etc.
a form resulting from any such change.
Pathology.
a type of alteration or degeneration in which tissues are changed: fatty metamorphosis of the liver.
the resultant form.
Botany. the structural or functional modification of a plant organ or structure during its development.
Origin of metamorphosis
1Other words for metamorphosis
Opposites for metamorphosis
Other words from metamorphosis
- non·met·a·mor·pho·sis, noun, plural non·met·a·mor·pho·ses.
Words Nearby metamorphosis
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use metamorphosis in a sentence
To some degree, the memoir pulls off these linguistic metamorphoses by virtue of its overarching themes of earthquakes and jazz, suggesting that these nonlinear, improvisational models are the only way to tell her story.
For a multiracial writer, a life marked by earthquakes and other upheavals | Gabrielle Bellot | January 15, 2021 | Washington PostI think the idea of her metamorphosis, from someone mundane and looked over to someone powerful and FABULOUS, was incredibly empowering for me.
Queer fans’ love of Wonder Woman is bulletproof | John Paul King | December 26, 2020 | Washington BladeThe catalyst for that metamorphosis was a decision by Deng Xiaoping, then China’s “paramount leader,” to create a capitalist enclave in communist China and open it to foreign investment, global trade, and Western technology.
Xi Jinping’s new economic strategy for China: ‘Dual circulation’ or doublespeak? | claychandler | October 15, 2020 | FortuneIn just eleven months, the Top Ten underwent an extraordinary metamorphosis.
Want to understand why tech stocks are crashing? This metric explains it all | Shawn Tully | September 9, 2020 | FortuneLike all sea squirts, it has a tiny brain and nerve cord, but unlike the others, Oikopleura doesn’t undergo a metamorphosis on its way to maturity.
By Losing Genes, Life Often Evolved More Complexity | Viviane Callier | September 1, 2020 | Quanta Magazine
metamorphosis is running at Lincoln Center, 63rd Street and 9th Avenue, until January 11, 2015.
He wanted a model to be able to produce his metamorphosis, which is why he showed her in so many different ways.
The boards had gotten shorter and surfing was going through a big metamorphosis.
Paris was in a state of magical metamorphosis between the World Wars.
Here was this person who was having a renaissance or a metamorphosis and seemed really joyous.
But, sooner than the moral metamorphosis, a physical metamorphosis came about in Marguerite.
Camille (La Dame aux Camilias) | Alexandre Dumas, filsThis inner sensation struck me even more forcibly than the metamorphosis of Nature spread out before me.
Urania | Camille Flammarionmetamorphosis Sexualis Paranoica species insaniae est in qua patiens imaginat sexum suum mutatum esse.
Essays In Pastoral Medicine | Austin MalleyPerhaps never was metamorphosis more complete than that which now took place.
The Way of a Man | Emerson HoughIts prolonged administration does not give rise to destructive blood metamorphosis.
British Dictionary definitions for metamorphosis
/ (ˌmɛtəˈmɔːfəsɪs) /
a complete change of physical form or substance
a complete change of character, appearance, etc
a person or thing that has undergone metamorphosis
zoology the rapid transformation of a larva into an adult that occurs in certain animals, for example the stage between tadpole and frog or between chrysalis and butterfly
Origin of metamorphosis
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for metamorphosis
[ mĕt′ə-môr′fə-sĭs ]
Dramatic change in the form and often the habits of an animal during its development after birth or hatching. The transformation of a maggot into an adult fly and of a tadpole into an adult frog are examples of metamorphosis. The young of such animals are called larvae.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for metamorphosis
[ (met-uh-mawr-fuh-sis) ]
A change in an animal as it grows, particularly a radical change, such as the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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