transmute
English
Etymology
Category:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#TRANSMUTECategory:English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *mey- (change)#TRANSMUTEFrom LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#TRANSMUTE trānsmūtāre, from trans + mūtāre.
Pronunciation
Verb
transmute (third-person singular simple present transmutes, present participle transmuting, simple past and past participle transmuted)Category:English lemmas#TRANSMUTECategory:English verbs#TRANSMUTECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TRANSMUTECategory:Pages with entries#TRANSMUTECategory:Pages with 4 entries#TRANSMUTE
- (ambitransitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#TRANSMUTECategory:English intransitive verbs#TRANSMUTE) To change or convert one thing to another, or from one state or form to another.
- Synonyms: transform, transmogrify; alchemise; see also Thesaurus:convert, Thesaurus:transmogrify
- Hypernyms: alter, change
- The alchemists tried to transmute base metals to gold.Category:English terms with usage examples#TRANSMUTE
- Did the base metals transmute to gold?Category:English terms with usage examples#TRANSMUTE
- 1653, John Bulwer, “Scene XXIIII. Cruell and Fantasticall Inventions of Men Practised upon Their Bodies in a Supposed Way of Bravery, and Wicked Practices both of Men and Devils to Alter and Deforme the Humane Fabricke”, in Anthropometamorphosis: Man Transform’d; or, The Artificial Changling […], 2nd edition, London: […] William Hunt, →OCLC, page 521:
- But others declare that no Creature can be made or tranſmuted into a better or vvorſe, or transformed into another ſpecies or ſimilitude, by man, or devill. […] Martinus [i.e., Martin] Delrio the Jeſuit accounts this degeneration of Man into a Beaſt to be an illuſion, deceptive and repugnant to Nature; for, the ſoule of man cannot informe a beaſts body, […]Category:English terms with quotations#TRANSMUTE
- 2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America, volume 182, number 21, archived from the original on 25 January 2025:
- Mary is sister to the marginalized women who live unchronicled lives in oppressive situations. It does her no honor to rip her out of her conflictual, dangerous historical circumstances and transmute her into an icon of a peaceful, middle-class life robed in royal blue.Category:English terms with quotations#TRANSMUTE
- 2023 April 14, Roslyn Sulcas, “Review: Grief and Mourning, Delivered With Ecstatic Vitality”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 5 May 2023:
- There is silence, then the sound of weeping, which escalates to heart-rending, gasping sobs. A man, the source of the lamentation, appears and as he walks across the stage, his cries transmute into song, and the slow snare drum rat-a-tat-tat of Ravel’s composition begins.Category:English terms with quotations#TRANSMUTE
- 2025 March 18, Samuel Moyn, “Can Democrats Learn to Dream Big Again?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 March 2025:
- Etzler was a follower of the wonkish French utopian Charles Fourier, who promised that the scientific reinvention of nature would transmute the saltwater into lemonade.Category:English terms with quotations#TRANSMUTE
Related terms
Translations
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Verb
transmuteCategory:French non-lemma forms#TRANSMUTECategory:French verb forms#TRANSMUTECategory:French entries with incorrect language header#TRANSMUTECategory:Pages with entries#TRANSMUTECategory:Pages with 4 entries#TRANSMUTE
- inflection of transmuter:
Portuguese
Verb
transmuteCategory:Portuguese non-lemma forms#TRANSMUTECategory:Portuguese verb forms#TRANSMUTECategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#TRANSMUTECategory:Pages with entries#TRANSMUTECategory:Pages with 4 entries#TRANSMUTE
- inflection of transmutar:
Spanish
Verb
transmuteCategory:Spanish non-lemma forms#TRANSMUTECategory:Spanish verb forms#TRANSMUTECategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#TRANSMUTECategory:Pages with entries#TRANSMUTECategory:Pages with 4 entries#TRANSMUTE
- inflection of transmutar: