transmogrify

American  

[trans-mog-ruh-fahy, tranz-] / trænsˈmɒg rəˌfaɪ, trænz- /

verb (used with object)

transmogrified, transmogrifying

1. to change in appearance or form, especially strangely or grotesquely; transform.

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transmogrify British  

/ trænzˈmɒɡrɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. humorous (tr) to change or transform into a different shape, esp a grotesque or bizarre one

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Other Word Forms

• transmogrification
  noun

Etymology

Origin of transmogrify

1650–60; earlier also transmigrify, transmography; apparently a pseudo-Latinism with transfigure or transmigrate + -ify

Explanation

You've seen something transmogrify, or transform completely, if you've ever watched the process of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Use the verb transmogrify when a person or thing changes in a way that surprises you. A fairy tale frog transmogrifies into a prince in one well-known story, and a tomboy might be said to transmogrify when she puts on a frilly dress to be a flower girl in a wedding. The origin of transmogrify isn't clear, although one theory is that it was a mistake made long ago, when someone meant to say transmigrate, or "pass into another body after death."

Example Sentences

Evolution has similarly purloined existing features and modified them, using great thrift, for example, to transmogrify a piece of jaw into an ear or to transform a leg into a wing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025

Seeing Powell transmogrify from nerdy Gary to five o’clock shadow Ron and back again is both hilarious and tantalizing, while Arjona has a big-eyed innocence crossed with wily smarts that keeps everyone, including Gary, guessing.

From New York Times • May 23, 2024

It’s likely in the middle of that process now, and could transmogrify itself into a star in as little as 200,000 years.

From Scientific American • Apr. 24, 2023

The play is treated as though it might at any moment transmogrify into a musical.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 2019

S. S. Schmucker's ambition was to transmogrify the Lutheran Church into an essentially unionistic Reformed body.

From American Lutheranism Volume 1: Early History of American Lutheranism and The Tennessee Synod by Bente, F. (Friedrich)