metamorphosis
UK /ˌmɛtəˈmɔːfəsɪs/ · US /ˌmɛtəˈmoɹfəsɪs/ noun
Forms metamorphoses
- noun A transformation, such as one performed by magic.
- noun A noticeable change in character, appearance, function, or condition.
- noun (biology) A change in the form and often habits of an animal after the embryonic stage during normal development (e.g. the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly or a tadpole into a frog).
- noun (pathology) A change, usually degenerative, in the structure of a specific body tissue.
Synonyms
development transfiguration transmutation conversion transfigurement transformation transmogrification sea change metabolism
Etymology
First attested in 1533, from Latin metamorphōsis, from Ancient Greek μεταμόρφωσις (metamórphōsis), from μετά (metá, “change”) + μορφή (morphḗ, “form”). Analyzable as meta- + -morph + -osis
Webster’s 1913
- noun Change of form, or structure; transformation.
- noun A change in the form or function of a living organism, by a natural process of growth or development; as, the metamorphosis of the yolk into the embryo, of a tadpole into a frog, or of a bud into a blossom. Especially, that form of sexual reproduction in which an embryo undergoes a series of marked changes of external form, as the chrysalis stage, pupa stage, etc., in insects. In these intermediate stages sexual reproduction is usually impossible, but they ultimately pass into final and sexually developed forms, from the union of which organisms are produced which pass through the same cycle o
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “metamorphosis”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details