English Dictionary |
TRANSFIGURE
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
Dictionary entry overview: What does transfigure mean?
• TRANSFIGURE (verb)
The verb TRANSFIGURE has 2 senses:
1. elevate or idealize, in allusion to Christ's transfiguration
2. change completely the nature or appearance of
Familiarity information: TRANSFIGURE used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Conjugation: |
Past simple: transfigured
Past participle: transfigured
-ing form: transfiguring
Sense 1
Meaning:
Elevate or idealize, in allusion to Christ's transfiguration
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
glorify; spiritualize; transfigure
Hypernyms (to "transfigure" is one way to...):
alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Derivation:
transfiguration (the act of transforming so as to exalt or glorify)
Transfiguration ((New Testament) the sudden emanation of radiance from the person of Jesus)
Transfiguration ((Christianity) a church festival held in commemoration of the Transfiguration of Jesus)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Change completely the nature or appearance of
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
metamorphose; transfigure; transmogrify
Context example:
Jesus was transfigured after his resurrection
Hypernyms (to "transfigure" is one way to...):
change by reversal; reverse; turn (change to the contrary)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s
Derivation:
transfiguration (a striking change in appearance or character or circumstances)
Context examples
It was a transfigured face, with great shining eyes that gazed beyond the veil of sound and saw behind it the leap and pulse of life and the gigantic phantoms of the spirit.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
God bless me, the man seems hardly human! Something troglodytic, shall we say? or can it be the old story of Dr. Fell? or is it the mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through, and transfigures, its clay continent?
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
His eyes were shining like an angel's, and his face was transfigured, purged of all earthly dross, and pure and holy.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
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