Conversion

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /kənˈvɜːʃ(ə)n/

Definitions

1. The act of changing something from one form, purpose, system, or belief into another
2. The process of transforming or adapting an entity or concept into a different state, function, ideology, or format
3. The act of altering the state, nature, function, or belief of something while transitioning to a new framework or system

Etymology: Some of the most consequential changes of a person's life are described with a word that originally meant nothing more dramatic than turning around. Latin "convertere" combined "com-", meaning "together" or intensive, with "vertere", "to turn," so its basic sense was a physical turning or reversal. Over centuries Latin writers extended it to changes of direction, state and mind, and that wider sense of turning from one condition to another is what lies behind the modern meaning. The noun "conversio" carried the same range of senses, from a turning round to a transformation of character, and the religious sense of a person turning to a new faith was well established in Latin usage. English took the word in the Middle Ages, borrowing it through Anglo-Norman "conversion," so the form reached English already shaped by French. The religious application, a change of faith, is the sense that has remained most prominent in English, and the general sense of any change from one state to another developed alongside it.

Synonyms: change, transformation, alteration, modification, switch

Antonyms: stagnation, remain, unchanged