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

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

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

Which leaves open the question of whether New York state prosecutors can transmogrify this conduct into a state crime.

From Washington Post • Apr. 4, 2023

“That a special purpose grand jury cannot issue an indictment does not diminish the criminal nature of its work or somehow transmogrify that criminal investigation into a civil one,” Judge McBurney wrote.

From New York Times • Oct. 8, 2022

Jonathan was for an instant paralysed by our impudence; but just as we were getting before the wind, he yawed, and let drive his whole broadside; and fearfully did it transmogrify us.

From Tom Cringle's Log by Scott, Michael