The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Transformation \Trans`for*ma"tion\, n. [L. transformatio: cf.
   transformation.]
   The act of transforming, or the state of being transformed;
   change of form or condition. Specifically:
   [1913 Webster]
   (a) (Biol.) Any change in an organism which alters its
       general character and mode of life, as in the development
       of the germ into the embryo, the egg into the animal, the
       larva into the insect (metamorphosis), etc.; also, the
       change which the histological units of a tissue are prone
       to undergo. See Metamorphosis.
       [1913 Webster]
       [1913 Webster]
   (b) (Physiol.) Change of one from of material into another,
       as in assimilation; metabolism; metamorphosis.
       [1913 Webster]
   (c) (Alchemy) The imagined possible or actual change of one
       metal into another; transmutation.
       [1913 Webster]
   (d) (Theol.) A change in disposition, heart, character, or
       the like; conversion.
       [1913 Webster]
   (e) (Math.) The change, as of an equation or quantity, into
       another form without altering the value.
       [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

transformation
    n 1: a qualitative change [syn: transformation,
         transmutation, shift]
    2: (mathematics) a function that changes the position or
       direction of the axes of a coordinate system
    3: a rule describing the conversion of one syntactic structure
       into another related syntactic structure
    4: (genetics) modification of a cell or bacterium by the uptake
       and incorporation of exogenous DNA
    5: the act of changing in form or shape or appearance; "a
       photograph is a translation of a scene onto a two-dimensional
       surface" [syn: transformation, translation]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

122 Moby Thesaurus words for "transformation":
   Fabianism, about-face, act drop, addition, alchemy, alteration,
   approximation, asbestos, asbestos board, assimilation, assumption,
   avatar, backdrop, batten, becoming, border, catabolism, catalysis,
   change, change-over, changeover, cloth, consubstantiation,
   conversion, coulisse, counterweight, curtain, curtain board,
   cyclorama, decor, differentiation, displacement, division, drop,
   drop curtain, equation, evolution, extrapolation, extremism,
   fire curtain, flat, flip-flop, flipper, gradualism, growth,
   hanging, heterotopia, integration, interpolation, inversion,
   involution, lapse, meliorism, metabolism, metagenesis,
   metamorphism, metamorphosis, metastasis, metathesis,
   metempsychosis, modification, multiplication, mutant, mutated form,
   mutation, naturalization, notation, passage, permutation, practice,
   progress, progressivism, proportion, radical reform, radicalism,
   rag, re-formation, reconversion, reduction, reform, reformation,
   reformism, regeneration, reincarnation, resolution, reversal,
   revisionism, revolution, scene, scenery, screen, shift, side scene,
   sport, stage screw, subtraction, switch, switch-over, tab, tableau,
   teaser, tormentor, transanimation, transfiguration,
   transfigurement, transformation scene, transformism, transit,
   transition, translation, translocation, transmigration,
   transmogrification, transmutation, transposition,
   transubstantiation, turning into, utopianism, volte-face, wing,
   wingcut, woodcut



The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

program transformation
transformation

   The systematic development of efficient programs from
   high-level specifications by meaning-preserving program
   manipulations.  Also known as optimisation.  See fusion,
   loop combination, peephole optimisation, register
   allocation, tupling, unfold/fold.