Library / English Dictionary

TRANSFORM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Change in outward structure or looks

Example:

The salesman metamorphosed into an ugly beetle

Synonyms:

metamorphose; transform; transmute

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "transform" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "transform"):

aurify (transform into gold)

become; turn (undergo a change or development)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Increase or decrease (an alternating current or voltage)

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "transform" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

transformer (an electrical device by which alternating current of one voltage is changed to another voltage)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Change (a bacterial cell) into a genetically distinct cell by the introduction of DNA from another cell of the same or closely related species

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "transform" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

transformation ((genetics) modification of a cell or bacterium by the uptake and incorporation of exogenous DNA)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Convert (one form of energy) to another

Example:

transform energy to light

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "transform" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Domain category:

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Change or alter in form, appearance, or nature

Example:

transubstantiate one element into another

Synonyms:

transform; transmute; transubstantiate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "transform" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "transform"):

transubstantiate (change (the Eucharist bread and wine) into the body and blood of Christ)

sorcerise; sorcerize (transform or change by means of sorcery)

stalinise; stalinize (transform in accordance with Stalin's policies)

destalinise; destalinize (counteract the effects and policies of Stalinism)

process; work; work on (shape, form, or improve a material)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

transformation (the act of changing in form or shape or appearance)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Change from one form or medium into another

Example:

Braque translated collage into oil

Synonyms:

transform; translate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "transform" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "transform"):

metricise; metricize (express in the metric system)

diagonalise; diagonalize (transform a matrix to a diagonal matrix)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 7

Meaning:

Subject to a mathematical transformation

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "transform" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

transformation ((mathematics) a function that changes the position or direction of the axes of a coordinate system)

Credits

 Context examples: 

They were new dogs, utterly transformed by the harness.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

"Decidedly he has had too much wine," I thought; and I did not know what answer to make to his queer question: how could I tell whether he was capable of being re-transformed?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It is an aromatic sulfonamide hydroxamate initially found in a screen for inhibitors of the tumorigenic phenotype of K-ras-transformed NIH3T3 cells.

(Oxamflatin, NCI Thesaurus)

Mutations of specific amino acids activate c-RAS to transform cells and are implicated in a variety of human tumors.

(p21 H-Ras Protein, NCI Thesaurus)

Autologous EBV-specific CTLs are produced by exposing autologous CTLs to "stimulator" autologous EBV-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines (EBV-LCLs).

(Autologous TGFbeta-Resistant HER2/EBV-Specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes, NCI Thesaurus)

To repair the abnormalities in the human brain caused by the apoE4 gene, the researchers created compounds that transformed the apoE4 protein into the harmless apoE3 protein.

(Alzheimer's Disease Gene Successfully Removed From Human Brain, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A B-lymphocyte that has been transformed (activated) in response to antigenic stimulation.

(B-Immunoblast, NCI Thesaurus)

Stem cells have the potential to transform into many different cell types.

(Developing Insulin-Producing Cells to Treat Diabetes, NIH)

An antitumor response involves destruction of cancer tumor cells primarily by activated T-cells induced to react to antigens recognized as foreign and expressed by the transformed cells.

(Antitumor Response, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes Rho GTPase-activating protein 26, is involved in the modulation of signaling by both transforming protein RhoA and cell division control protein 42 homolog.

(ARHGAP26 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)