verb
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to change or cause to change in appearance
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to become or cause to become more exalted
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of transfigure
1250–1300; Middle English transfiguren < Latin trānsfigūrāre to change in shape. See trans-, figure
Explanation
To transfigure is to change or alter something, often so that it becomes even more amazing or beautiful. That colorful mural you painted really transfigures your bedroom! Transfigure has a Latin root, transfigurare, "change the shape of." While its meaning is similar to transform, there's usually an additional sense of "make better" in transfigure. When you come home dirty and tired after a camping trip, a hot shower and clean clothes will transfigure you. And adding grated cheese, chopped basil, and a drizzle of good olive oil can transfigure a simple dish of pasta.
Vocabulary lists containing transfigure
The Pearl
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
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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.
They appear as ready to transfigure as Furey is to switch artistic mode.
From Washington Post • Mar. 24, 2023
These phenomena transfigure copyrights, patents, and trademarks into subjects of everyday importance.
From Salon • Jun. 4, 2022
These are process-driven stories that actively engage, and transfigure, the moment that spawns them.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2021
If you aren’t aware that Susanna Kaysen published an influential memoir called Girl, Interrupted in 1999, the phrase is puzzling, since Loose Girl doesn’t so much promise to interrupt the truth as to transfigure it.
From Slate • Nov. 30, 2017
It kept crackling and sparking at odd moments, and every time Ron tried to transfigure his beetle it engulfed him in thick gray smoke that smelled of rotten eggs.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
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.
