Word for repairing something in a way that changes its function

Solution 1:

You've adapted your washing machine.

Adapt: to change, or to change something, to suit different conditions or uses. [Cambridge English dictionary]

Adapt: Make (something) suitable for a new use or purpose; modify. [Oxford Dictionaries]

Solution 2:

That's called repurposing.

Repurpose (verb): Adapt for use in a different purpose.

Example: They've taken a product that was originally designed for the CD-ROM and repurposed it for the Microsoft Network. [Lexico]

Example: You repurposed the washing machine for cloth-colourer.

If you fix a broken thing and make something else out of it, I suggest Upcycle.


  • Transmute would also work well. It means to change something in form, nature, or substance

  • Or use customise if you change it according to your needs.

  • Revamp, remodel, transfigure and retool could also be used.

I had a bicycle and I changed it to a car.

For this example, I'd use transmogrify.

Solution 3:

How about modify or retrofit? From M-W:

modify: to make basic or fundamental changes in often to give a new orientation to or to serve a new end

retrofit: to adapt to a new purpose or need

Your example:

The washing machine was broken and I modified it in such a way that the function of washing machine is no longer washing clothes but, say, now it colours the clothes.

The washing machine was broken and I retrofitted it in such a way that the function of washing machine is no longer washing clothes but, say, now it colours the clothes.

Solution 4:

The word you are looking for is hack; in its original sense, to fix something into something it wasn't before (or more eloquently, "An appropriate application of ingenuity" )

I didn't need a raclette grill, so i hacked it into a reflow oven.

Solution 5:

To hack something.

(usually used in a software/IT context)

Someone hacked the Make program into an init system.