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shapeshift

American  
[shayp-shift] / ˈʃeɪpˌʃɪft /

verb (used without object)

shapeshifted, shapeshifting
  1. to change into a different physical form by means of magic or supernatural power, as in fantasy fiction or some mythologies.


Other Word Forms

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.

See Examples For:

Urista pointed to the region’s prehispanic nahual—a spiritual leader that is believed to shapeshift into animal counterparts—as a possible explanation for Mexico’s obsession.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 16, 2026

With support from their collaborators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the researchers used a state-of-the-art transmission electron microscope to observe the nanoscale material shapeshift with atomic resolution in real time.

From Science Daily May 23, 2024

One thing I've noticed with these celebrities is their ability to shapeshift into anything regardless of the cost.

From Salon Oct. 29, 2023

Like most of the hallucinatory sights and transporting sounds in this feature-length anime, Inu-oh, as he comes to be known, tends to shapeshift in accordance with director Masaaki Yuasa’s whims.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 11, 2022

I asked Junior if he could shapeshift into him.

From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas

Said to have originated at Madame Wu’s in mid-century California, it’s since shapeshifted into mall cafés, suburban potlucks and prepackaged grab-and-go containers.

From Salon May 19, 2025

In the 1930s, White shapeshifted from intrepid crimefighter to savvy political leader, spending more than two decades at the head of the NAACP.

From Los Angeles Times Feb. 9, 2022

It is to be hoped that Lady Loki is who she appears to be – a Loki variant who shapeshifted to female and has remained in this form indefinitely — instead of separate character.

From Salon Jun. 19, 2021

From there, the singer shapeshifted, across sounds and eras — she started with “Space Oddity” and “Fame” and a handful of other Bowie high notes — as often as Bowie had.

From Washington Post Feb. 16, 2016

“Mystique, shapeshifted to look like Leia with a lightsaber, versus Amethyst, shapeshifted to look like Leia with a blaster.”

From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon

A Native American woman looks back on a life of shapeshifting identities.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 30, 2026

In a shapeshifting region where traditions are seldom archived on paper, the women "carry the living memory of Saharan societies through their songs, their stories, their hands that weave, shape, cook and educate."

From Barron's Feb. 10, 2026

“Private Music” stands not just as a wonderfully cohesive riff-heavy body of work with a relentless energy that is the next shapeshifting step in the Deftones catalog, but is also a well-balanced album.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 22, 2025

In 2016, actor Samuel L. Jackson became the first Black person to play a lead in a Burton film when he was cast as the shapeshifting Mr. Barron in "Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children."

From Salon Sep. 15, 2024

Then a few years ago, a shapeshifting friend in New Orleans asked me to hire an associate who was moving to Jackson.

From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas

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