transmute
Americanverb (used with or without object)
verb
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to change the form, character, or substance of
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to alter (an element, metal, etc) by alchemy
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of transmute
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin trānsmūtāre to shift, equivalent to trāns- trans- + mūtāre to change.
Explanation
Transmute is a verb meaning to change in appearance or form. For example, magical creatures can transmute into other beings. When you're fighting a wizard, don’t be surprised if he transmutes into a terrifying dragon. More realistically, you, too, can transmute your appearance — by dying your hair, piercing your nose, or changing your style of dress. Transmute often describes physical change — like when alchemists tried to transmute lead into gold — but it can also be used more figuratively to describe anything that's transformed. For example, you might transmute your sketchy memories of growing up in Boston into the Great American Novel.
Vocabulary lists containing transmute
American Gods
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The Good Earth
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The Left Hand of Darkness
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
We can only Transmute things around us by using both Force and Order.
From Manual of the Enumeration A Text Book on the Sciences of the Enumeration by Coffman, C. J.
Transmute, trans-mūt′, v.t. to change to another form or substance.—adj.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
Transmute grief for the dead into love for the living.
From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 09 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Reformers by Hubbard, Elbert
Transmute every incident of your day into a subject for a speech or an illustration.
From The Art of Public Speaking by Carnagey, Dale
How welcome are the yellow waves That through the eastern windows pour And, with a warmth my nature craves, Transmute to gold the polished floor!
From Poems by Stoddard, John L. (John Lawson)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
