convert
UK /kənˈvɜːt/ · US /kənˈvɝt/ verb, noun
Forms converts converting converted
- verb (transitive) To transform or change (something) into another form, substance, state, or product. “A kettle converts water into steam.”
- verb (transitive) To change (something) from one use, function, or purpose to another. “He converted his garden into a tennis court.”
- verb (transitive) To induce (someone) to adopt a particular religion, faith, ideology or belief (see also sense 12). “They converted her to Roman Catholicism on her deathbed.”
- verb (transitive) To exchange for something of equal value. “We converted our pounds into euros.”
- verb (transitive) To express (a quantity) in alternative units.
- verb (transitive) To express (a unit of measurement) in terms of another; to furnish a mathematical formula by which a quantity, expressed in the former unit, may be given in the latter. “How do you convert feet into metres?”
- verb (transitive, law) To appropriate wrongfully or unlawfully; to commit the common law tort of conversion.
- verb (ambitransitive, rugby football) To score extra points after (a try) by completing a conversion.
- noun A person who has converted to a religion. “They were all converts to Islam.”
- noun A person who is now in favour of something that they previously opposed or disliked. “I never really liked broccoli before, but now that I've tasted it the way you cook it, I'm a convert!”
- noun Anyone who has converted from being one thing to being another.
- noun (Canadian football) The equivalent of a conversion in rugby
Synonyms
develop draw evolve metamorphize metamorphose reconvert shift transfigurate transfigure transform transmogrify transmute transume change over change exchange commute win over convince
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English converten, from Old French convertir, from Latin converto (“turn around”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To cause to turn; to turn. [Obs.]
- verb To change or turn from one state or condition to another; to alter in form, substance, or quality; to transform; to transmute; as, to convert water into ice. If the whole atmosphere were converted into water. T. Burnet.
- verb To be turned or changed in character or direction; to undergo a change, physically or morally.
- noun A person who is converted from one opinion or practice to another; a person who is won over to, or heartily embraces, a creed, religious system, or party, in which he has not previously believed; especially, one who turns from the controlling power of sin to that of holiness, or from unbelief to Christianity.
Etymology [L. convertere, -versum; con- + vertere to turn: cf. F. convertir. See Verse.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “convert”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details