transfigure

1. 1.

   elevate or idealize, in allusion to Christ's transfiguration

   Synonymsglorifyspiritualize

   Broaderchange
2. 2.

   change completely the nature or appearance of

   “In Kafka's story, a person metamorphoses into a bug”

   “The treatment and diet transfigured her into a beautiful young woman”

   “Jesus was transfigured after his resurrection”

   Synonymsmetamorphosetransmogrify

   Broaderchange by reversal

Other forms of transfigure

past tense

transfigured·

present participle

transfiguring·

third person

transfigures·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about transfigure

What does transfigure mean?

transfigure means "elevate or idealize, in allusion to Christ's transfiguration". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in transfigure?

transfigure has 3 syllables: trans-fi-gure. The stress falls on "trans".

What is another word for transfigure?

Close synonyms include glorify, spiritualize, metamorphose, transmogrify. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is transfigure a common word?

transfigure is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.