transformation Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a qualitative change
    shift; transmutation.
  2. noun (mathematics) a function that changes the position or direction of the axes of a coordinate system
  3. noun a rule describing the conversion of one syntactic structure into another related syntactic structure
  4. noun (genetics) modification of a cell or bacterium by the uptake and incorporation of exogenous DNA
  5. noun the act of changing in form or shape or appearance
    translation.
    • a photograph is a translation of a scene onto a two-dimensional surface

WordNet

Trans`for*ma"tion noun
Etymology
L. transformatio: cf. transformation.
Definitions
  1. The act of transforming, or the state of being transformed; change of form or condition. Specifically: -- (a) (Biol.) Any change in an organism which alters its general character and mode of life, as in the development of the germ into the embryo, the egg into the animal, the larva into the insect (metamorphosis), etc.; also, the change which the histological units of a tissue are prone to undergo. See Metamorphosis. esp. the change from a normal to a cancerous state for a eukaryotic cell (b) (Physiol.) Change of one from of material into another, as in assimilation; metabolism; metamorphosis. (c) (Alchemy) The imagined possible or actual change of one metal into another; transmutation. (d) (Theol.) A change in disposition, heart, character, or the like; conversion. (e) (Math.) The change, as of an equation or quantity, into another form without altering the value.

Webster 1913