Transformative

How to spell transformative

14 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce transformative

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does transformative mean?

1. adjectiveCausing a marked, often fundamental, change in someone or something.

Transformative in a sentence

• The new manager had a transformative effect on the struggling team.

• Learning a second language can be a transformative experience for adults.

Where does transformative come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin verb transformare, which combined trans, meaning 'across' or 'beyond', with formare, 'to shape or form', so the literal sense was 'to change one shape into another'. English took up 'transform' through Old French in the late 1300s, and the adjective 'transformative' was built later by adding the Latin-derived ending -ive, which marks a tendency or capacity to do something. The same form root sits inside a large family of everyday words such as 'reform', 'uniform', and 'formation', all sharing the idea of shape. Because the spelling follows its parts so faithfully (trans + form + ative), the main thing to remember is the single -m- and the -ative ending rather than -ative being mistaken for -ertive. The modern flavour of deep, fundamental change came naturally from that original 'beyond shape' meaning.

How the word is built

• trans- (across, beyond)
• form (shape)
• -at(e) (verb)
• -ive (adjective suffix)