shapeshift
/ˈʃeɪp.ʃɪft/
shapeshift verb: to change one's shape or form (into another) through often magical means, normally applied only to living beings.
Verb
shapeshift (third-person singular simple present shapeshifts, present participle shapeshifting, simple past and past participle shapeshifted)
- To change one's shape or form (into another) through often magical means, normally applied only to living beings.
- For it was by shape-shifting and magic art, as poets tell, that Paris first beguiled Fair Helen.1891, H. Rider Haggard and Andrew Lang, The World's Desire, volume II, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, page 13
- Journey in exactly the same way as you did to shapeshift into your power animal except, this time, set your intention to shapeshift into a named ancestor.2010, Mike Williams, Follow the Shaman's Call: An Ancient Path for Modern Lives, page 91
- To undergo a noticeable change (in character for example), to metamorphosize.
- While Chelsea Wolfe has often shapeshifted in terms of how she presents her music, one thing remains constant: her big mood.2019, Adam Turner-Heffer, Chelsea Wolfe: Birth of Violence review, The Skinny, September 2019, page 57
Examples of shapeshift in a sentence
- I can't shapeshift Zane, I only look like this I always have.2019, Emily Rayven, Gateway To Brienka:
- But to embed oneself in an irregular and unpredictable food supply as mycelium does, one must be able to shapeshift.2020, Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life, page 57:
Forms of shapeshift
| third-person singular present | shapeshifts |
|---|---|
| present participle | shapeshifting |
| past participle | shapeshifted |
| past | shapeshifted |
Origin of shapeshift
Probably a back-formation from shapeshifter.
Questions about shapeshift
- What does shapeshift mean?
- Shapeshift means to change one's shape or form (into another) through often magical means, normally applied only to living beings.
- How do you use shapeshift in a sentence?
- I can't shapeshift Zane, I only look like this I always have.
- What part of speech is shapeshift?
- Shapeshift is a verb.
- How do you pronounce shapeshift?
- Shapeshift is pronounced /ˈʃeɪp.ʃɪft/.
- What is the past tense of shapeshift?
- The past tense of shapeshift is shapeshifted.
Words near shapeshift in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shapeshift (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sapaa-shapeshift.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-shapeshift.wav.
Cite this entry: “shapeshift.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shapeshift. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.