metamorphosis

/ˈmɛdəˌmɔrfəsəs/

/mɛtəˈmɔfəsɪs/

Other forms: metamorphoses

In Kafka's novel entitled Metamorphosis, a man wakes up to find he has turned into a cockroach. That kind of complete and startling change pretty much sums up the word.

When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it goes through a metamorphosis. An idea can undergo metamorphosis, or metamorphosize, too as can feelings. After you spend a full summer with your grandmother, your feelings about the woman may undergo a complete metamorphosis. While you were once afraid of the old woman, you now love her dearly.

Definitions of metamorphosis

1. noun

   a striking change in appearance or character or circumstances
   “the metamorphosis of the old house into something new and exciting”

   synonyms: transfiguration

   type of:

   alteration, revision

   the act of revising or altering (involving reconsideration and modification)
2. noun

   a complete change of physical form or substance especially as by magic or witchcraft
   type of:

   transformation, translation

   the act of changing in form or shape or appearance
3. noun

   the marked and rapid transformation of a larva into an adult that occurs in some animals
   synonyms: metabolism

   types:

   hemimetabolism, hemimetaboly, hemimetamorphosis

   incomplete or partial metamorphosis in insects

   heterometabolism, heterometaboly

   development of insects with incomplete metamorphosis in which no pupal stage precedes maturity

   holometabolism, holometaboly

   complete metamorphosis in insects

   type of:

   biological process, organic process

   a process occurring in living organisms