transformative

English

WOTD – 21 April 2021

Etymology

From Medieval Latin transformātīvus (“transformative”), from Latin trānsfōrmātus (“transformed”) + -īvus (suffix attached to the perfect passive participial stems of verbs, forming deverbal adjectives meaning ‘doing or related to doing [the verb]’). Trānsfōrmātus is the perfect passive participle of trānsfōrmō (“to transform”), from trāns- (prefix meaning ‘across; beyond; through’) + fōrmō (“to fashion, form, format, shape”) (from fōrma (“appearance, figure, form, shape”); further etymology unknown, perhaps related to Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “a form, shape”)).^[1] The English word is analysable as transform +‎ -ative.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /trɑːnsˈfɔːmətɪv/, /tɹæns-/
- Audio (Southern England): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /tɹænsˈfɔɹmətɪv/, [-ɾɪv]
- Audio (Mid-Atlantic US): (file)
Hyphenation: trans‧form‧a‧tive

Adjective

transformative (comparative more transformative, superlative most transformative)

That causes a transformation; causing a notable and lasting change
Synonyms: transformatory, transmutative

Antonym: nontransformative
- 2019 November 6, Graeme Pickering, “New targets for Northumberland”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 46:
  "You'll know the transformative effect that the Metro has had on the whole of Tyneside," says NCC [Northumberland County Council] leader Peter Jackson. "This new passenger line will have the same effect on southeast Northumberland. It's a transformative project and we're going to make sure it happens."
- 2017 June 12, Betsy Klein, quoting Ivanka Trump, “Ivanka Trump: ‘There is a level of viciousness that I was not expecting’”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 20 July 2017:
  “It is hard. And there is a level of viciousness that I was not expecting. I was not expecting the intensity of this experience, but this isn’t supposed to be easy. My father and this administration intends to be transformative, and we want to do big, bold things and we’re looking to change the status quo. So I didn’t expect it to be easy. I think some of the distractions and some of the ferocity was — I was a little blindsided by on a personal level,” she said.
(linguistics) Chiefly in transformative-generative: of or relating to a theory of generative grammar in which defined operations called transformations produce new sentences from existing ones; transformational.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

that causes transformation

Catalan: transformatiu
Estonian: transformeeriv
Finnish: käänteentekevä
French: transformateur (fr)
German: transformativ
Greek: μεταμορφωτικός (el) (metamorfotikós)
Italian: trasformativo
Latin: trānsfōrmātīvus
Macedonian: трансформативен (transformativen)
Middle English: vertuous (rare)
Polish: transformacyjny
Spanish: transformativo (es)

of or relating to a theory of generative grammar in which defined operations called transformations produce new sentences from existing ones — see also transformational

Russian: преврати́тельный (ru) (prevratítelʹnyj)

References

^ “transformative, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2018; “transformative, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.