Other forms: transformed, transforming, transforms
To transform is to change something completely into something new. Transform the room, transformed her life, a transforming experience.
It means a change of kind rather than of degree, which is what separates it from improve. In mathematics and physics, a transform is a precise operation that converts a function into another form — the Fourier transform is the famous one. In electricity, a transformer changes voltage. Note transformation, which is also what a caterpillar undergoes; and that transform is heavily overused in business writing for ordinary reorganisation.
1verbtransformTo change something completely into something new.
“The new owners transformed the old factory into a modern art gallery.”
transform is a complete change.
Latin transformare is trans-, across, plus formare, to shape. Transforming something is shaping it across into another form, and the word says exactly what it means.
Middle English
transformen
English, today
transform
Built from
From Middle English transformen. From Middle English transformen, from Old French transformer, from Latin transformo, from trans (“across”) + forma (“form”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA