To transform something is to change it in form, appearance, or structure (to transform soybeans into oil and meal by pressure). This verb is often used to talk about changes of a less visible nature: technological advancements in the last few decades have transformed society. The synonym metamorphose means the same thing on paper, but it’s far less common and it typically alludes to the biological process of metamorphosis, that is, a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly. Metamorphose is further distinguished from transform by its association with the supernatural, as in the case of the suspected wood nymphs in Adam Bede (George Eliot, 1859), that metamorphose themselves into a squirrel and scamper away.

To embarrass someone is to make them uncomfortably self-conscious about something. A friend’s bad table manners at a fancy restaurant might embarrass you, for instance. While embarrassment is no picnic, it’s mild compared to the feeling of mortification. To mortify someone is to humiliate or shame someone, as by injury to their pride or self-respect. If you go to a fancy restaurant and this same friend (though we’re second guessing the label) yells about how slow the service is and then upends a table—well, that might mortify you. The sense of embarrassment implied by this verb is so intense, it may make you want to disappear—or worse. You see, mortify comes from the Late Latin verb mortificāre “to put to death,” and early uses of the word in English deal quite literally with matters of life and death.

When you’ve escaped, congratulations are due, because you’ve managed to get away from or out of something threatening or dangerous. Escape means to free yourself from confinement or restraint (an ingenious plan to escape from jail, a need to escape from reality) or to succeed in avoiding capture or any other danger (escaped the police, escaped detection). Fleeing does not necessarily entail escape, although people certainly flee with the intention of escaping. When you flee, you run away—on foot or using any means of transportation. Flee usually implies running away from peril or from pursuers, whether the danger is explicitly stated or not (waited for a chance to flee, fled from the police). Flee can also mean to leave a dangerous person or place (fled the country, fled the scene).