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.

---

transmogrify British  

/ trænzˈmɒɡrɪˌfaɪ /

verb

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

---

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

He would soon transmogrify these mostly dismal experiences into art.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 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

At 66 I haven’t got a lot of time left before I transmogrify into a maguey.

From New York Times • Sep. 2, 2021

The concluding fire-and-brimstone fireworks of “Vingt Regards” transmogrify that turmoil of liberation into a transcendental visitation of bliss in the mystic beyond.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 23, 2020

P. S.—Be sure and see that the printer spells my name rightly, and don't transmogrify it into "TREEBOX," as a beast of a Treasury Clerk did the other day.

From Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 14, July 2, 1870 by Various