noun

• The act of transforming or the state of being transformed.
• A marked change in appearance or character, especially one for the better.
• (mathematics) The replacement of the variables in an algebraic expression by their values in terms of another set of variables; a mapping of one space onto another or onto itself; a function that changes the position or direction of the axes of a coordinate system.
• (linguistics) A rule that systematically converts one syntactic form into another; a sentence derived by such a rule.
• (genetics) The alteration of a bacterial cell caused by the transfer of DNA from another, especially if pathogenic.
• (politics, South Africa) The transition from the apartheid era to a multiracial democracy in South Africa.