Metamorphosis
[,metə'mɔːfəsɪs;,metəmɔː'fəʊsɪs] or ['mɛtə'mɔrfəsɪs]
Definition
(noun.) a complete change of physical form or substance especially as by magic or witchcraft.
(noun.) the marked and rapid transformation of a larva into an adult that occurs in some animals.
Edited by Elise--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) Change of form, or structure; transformation.
(n.) 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 of changes. See Transformation.
(n.) The change of material of one kind into another through the agency of the living organism; metabolism.
Checker: Rosalind
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Transformation, transmutation, transfiguration, change of form.
Inputed by Harvey
Examples
- The transition had been so sudden and so unexpected that it left me for a moment forgetful of aught else than my strange metamorphosis. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- I know not that I have ever seen in any other human face an equal metamorphosis from a similar cause. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- When I complimented him on his Metamorphosis, he declined to take it as a joke. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Paul underwent a metamorphosis. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- His own mother at this moment could not have known her son: the metamorphosis was nearly as laughable as it was astonishing. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Spiders, again, barely undergo any metamorphosis. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Behold the metamorphosis! Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- During the time that either of the views is altogether concealed, the painting is changed; and in this manner an unlimited number of metamorphoses may be effected. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- It will be observed that the principle, on which the metamorphoses of Dissolving Views depend, is similar to that which produces the variations in the diorama. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- But Dissolving Views set nature at defiance, and exhibit metamorphoses as great as can be conceived by the wildest fancy. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
Editor: Rena