Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or an instance of transmuting; transformation.
  • noun The state of being transmuted.
  • noun Physics Transformation of one element into another by one or a series of nuclear reactions.
  • noun The supposed conversion of base metals into gold or silver in alchemy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of transmuting, or the state of being transmuted: change into another substance, form, or nature.
  • noun In alchemy, the changing of baser metals into metals of greater value, especially into gold or silver.
  • noun In geometry, the change or reduction of one figure or body into another of the same area or solidity but of a different form, as of a triangle into a square; transformation.
  • noun In biology, the change of one species into another by any means; transpeciation; transformism. The history of the idea or of the fact runs parallel with that of transformism, from an early crude or vulgar notion akin to that involved in the alchemy of metals (see above) to the modern scientific conception of transmutation as an evolutionary process, or the gradual modification of one species into another by descent with modification through many generations.
  • noun Successive change; alternation; interchange.
  • noun Synonyms See transform, transitive verb

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of transmuting, or the state of being transmuted.
  • noun (Geom.), rare The change or reduction of one figure or body into another of the same area or solidity, but of a different form, as of a triangle into a square.
  • noun (Biol.) The change of one species into another, which is assumed to take place in any development theory of life; transformism.
  • noun (Alchem.) the conversion of base metals into gold or silver, a process often attempted by the alchemists. See Alchemy, and Philosopher's stone, under Philosopher.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the act of transmuting or the state of being transmuted
  • noun the supposed transformation of base metals into gold by the alchemists
  • noun physics the transformation of one element into another by a nuclear reaction

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (physics) the change of one chemical element into another (as by nuclear decay or radioactive bombardment)
  • noun an act that changes the form or character or substance of something
  • noun a qualitative change

Etymologies

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Examples

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  • In a super power, this would be the ability to transform atoms into different types of atoms.

    May 15, 2008