transformation

 
Pronunciation: /transfəˈmeɪʃ(ə)n, trɑːns-, -nz-/

noun

  • 1a marked change in form, nature, or appearance: British society underwent a radical transformation
  • (also transformation scene) a sudden dramatic change of scenery on stage.
  • a metamorphosis during the life cycle of an animal.
  • Physics the induced or spontaneous change of one element into another by a nuclear process.
  • 2 Mathematics & Logic a process by which one figure, expression, or function is converted into another one of similar value.
  • 3 Linguistics a process by which an element in the underlying logical deep structure of a sentence is converted to an element in the surface structure.
  • 4 [mass noun] Biology the genetic alteration of a cell by introduction of extraneous DNA, especially by a plasmid.
  • the heritable modification of a cell from its normal state to a malignant state.

Origin:

late Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin transformatio(n-), from the verb transformare (see transform)