From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmutatemu‧tate /mjuːˈteɪt $ ˈmjuːteɪt/ ●○○ verb [intransitive] 1 HBif an animal or plant mutates, it becomes different from others of the same kind, because of a change in its genetic structure Simple organisms like bacteria mutate rapidly.2 to change and develop a new form Technology continues to mutate at an alarming rate.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
mutate• But the Screamers mutate and evolve their own agenda.• If the temperature is too high, the yeast will mutate and produce unpleasant off flavours in the beer.• Viruses tend to mutate and to change their characteristics over long periods of time.• If they fear Chaos, they begin to mutate in horrible and painful ways.• She was not an angel capable of mutating into a writhing, biting snake on a soft mattress.• In real life, the probability that a gene will mutate is often less than one in a million.• There is nothing in the mutating process itself that leads to any improvement.• According to one theory, it seems to keep mutating so that each generation has different keys.Origin mutate (1700-1800) Latin past participle of mutare “to change” 