transfigure

To transfigure a human villain into a demonic one, ostensibly the ultimate moral indictment, in practice amounts to a kind of cinematic vindication.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2023

They appear as ready to transfigure as Furey is to switch artistic mode.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 24, 2023

These phenomena transfigure copyrights, patents, and trademarks into subjects of everyday importance.

From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2022

If you aren’t aware that Susanna Kaysen published an influential memoir called Girl, Interrupted in 1999, the phrase is puzzling, since Loose Girl doesn’t so much promise to interrupt the truth as to transfigure it.

From Slate ● Nov. 30, 2017

It kept crackling and sparking at odd moments, and every time Ron tried to transfigure his beetle it engulfed him in thick gray smoke that smelled of rotten eggs.

From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling

By channeling himself into the role, he transfigures a stereotype.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 28, 2022

All great art is consoling because it transfigures our ordinary feelings into something bigger.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 11, 2016

The show, which is having its world premiere here at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, boldly transfigures the whimsical charms of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's movie into sparkling musical comedy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2015

Just as “Queen of Earth” transfigures its narrative conflicts into an exalted cinematic music, it retrospectively emphasizes the tonal values of Perry’s earlier films.

From The New Yorker ● Jun. 18, 2015

It transfigures common things with beauty and fresh meaning, with the cycle of the seasons and ever freshness of the days.

From The Challenge of the Country A Study of Country Life Opportunity by George Walter Fiske

Her summer is transfigured by their innocent trysts: “There was the still water of a lake. There were a garden’s scents and its delicious twilight air.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026

His inauguration was a ritual of devotion, an arena where the less powerful — which means practically everybody — was transfigured by his presence.

From Salon ● Jan. 31, 2025

The following year, he changed his own name to Akhenaten, meaning “the transfigured spirit of the solar orb,” and moved himself and his entire family to the new city.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

Melodrama, a form that Bergman transfigured so brilliantly, feels alien to her temperament.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2021

Father Gomez seemed transfigured; the certainty that ran through his veins seemed to make his very eyes incandescent.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

Still, the speed at which generative AI appears to be capable of transfiguring workplaces — seemingly overnight — is dizzying, especially relative to prior technological breakthroughs.

From Seattle Times ● May 12, 2023

I have no transfiguring powers and nothing yet to mourn.

From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2022

Born in Antigua, Kincaid invents aesthetics which are wholly unique, transfiguring human form and surroundings, in particular, the Caribbean landscapes.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 2, 2019

John Doyle’s transfiguring Broadway revival of “The Color Purple,” a musical I foolishly gave up on, taught me never to underestimate the power of a director to reveal overlooked brilliance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2018

Her face was a reflection of many things; a sum of many transfiguring, even violent events.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy