shape
/ˈʃeɪ̯p/
shape noun: the status or condition of something.
Noun
shape (countable and uncountable, plural shapes)
- The status or condition of something
- The used bookshop wouldn’t offer much due to the poor shape of the book.
- Condition of personal health, especially muscular health.
- The vet checked to see what kind of shape the animal was in.
- We exercise to keep in good physical shape.
- A graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external surface.
- What shape shall we use for the cookies? Stars, circles, or diamonds?
- No design right can exist in features of appearance of a product which are solely dictated by the product's technical function (see Dyson Ltd v Vax Ltd [2010] EWHC 1923 (Pat) which held the shape of the Dyson vacuum cleaner to be unregisterable as it was purely functional) [...]2012, Robert Bradgate, Fidelma White, Margaret Llewelyn, Commercial Law, page 429
- Form; formation.
- Your head is a funny shape, rather oblong.
- What if God's plans and actions do mold the shape of human events?2006, Berdj Kenadjian, Martin Zakarian, From Darkness to Light
- A geometric figure defined by its surfaces, lines, and angles, existing in 2D or 3D
- A rolled or hammered piece, such as a bar, beam, angle iron, etc., having a cross section different from merchant bar.
- A piece which has been roughly forged nearly to the form it will receive when completely forged or fitted.
- A mould for making blancmange, jelly, etc., or a piece of such food formed moulded into a particular shape.
- And if I 'm late for supper there 's a dish of macaroni cheese you must put in the oven and a tin of tomatoes to eat with it. And there is a little rhubarb and shape.1918 March, Rebecca West [pseudonym; Cicily Isabel Fairfield], chapter IV, in The Return of the Soldier, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., published 1918, →OCLC, page 92
- It was brawn and shape for high tea.1978, Jane Gardam, God on the Rocks, Abacus, published 2014, page 111
- A loaded die.
- A top cheater seldom ever uses shapes or loaded dice because they do not assure you of winning.1961, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Government Operations. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Gambling and Organized Crime: Hearings, page 76
- In the Hack programming language, a group of data fields each of which has a name and a data type.
Verb
shape (third-person singular simple present shapes, present participle shaping, simple past shaped or (obsolete) shope, past participle shaped or (obsolete) shope or (archaic) shapen)
- To create or make.
- Earth was shapen by God for God's folk.
- Which the mighty God of heaven shope.1685, Satan's Invisible World Discoveredː
- To give something a shape and definition.
- Shape the dough into a pretzel. For my art project, I plan to shape my clay lump into a bowl.
- The professor never pretended to the academic prerogative of forcing his students into his own channels of reasoning; he entered into and helped shape the discussion but above all he made his men learn to think for themselves and rely upon their own intellectual judgments.1932, The American Scholar, United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa, page 227
- To form or manipulate something into a certain shape.
- Mature the Virgin was of Egypt's Race: / Grace ſhap'd her Limbs; and Beauty deck'd her Face: […]1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, book II (Pleasure), page...
- Bendtner's goal-bound shot was well saved by goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi but fell to Arsahvin on the edge of the area and the Russian swivelled, shaped his body and angled a sumptuous volley into the corner.2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2-2 Arsenal”, in BBC
- To give influence to.
- To suit; to be adjusted or conformable.
- The more of you 'twas felt, the more it shap'd / Unto my end of stealing them1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- To imagine; to conceive.
- Oft my jealousy / Shapes faults that are not.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
shape meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
shape in Hindi
- appearance or outline
- आकार ākār, शक्ल śakla, डोल ḍol, रूप rūp
shape in Tamil
- உருவம், வடிவம், பரிமாணம், ரூபம், உருவாக்கு
shape in Marathi
- shape, form, figure
- आकार ākār
- to shape, form, or fashion something
- घडवणे ghaḍavaṇe
shape in Urdu
- appearance or outline
- شَکْل śakl, ڈول ḍol, آکار ākār, رُوپ rūp
More languagesFewer languages
- shape in Bengali
- আকৃতি akriti, আকার akar, রূপ rup, সুরত śurot
- shape in Telugu
- స్థితి sthiti, ఆకారం ākāraṁ, ఆకృతి ākr̥ti, రూపుదిద్దు rūpudiddu
- shape in Malayalam
- ആകൃതി ākr̥ti, മേനി mēni, ജാട jāṭa
- shape in Kannada
- ಆಕಾರ, ರೂಪ, ಆಕೃತಿ, ರೀತಿ
- shape in Punjabi
- ਸ਼ਕਲ
- shape in Gujarati
- આકાર ākār, અંગ aṅga
- shape in Odia
- ଆକୃତି
- shape in Sanskrit
- रूप rūpa
- shape in Assamese
- আকৃতি akriti, আকাৰ akar, ঠান than, ৰূপ rup
- shape in Nepali
- आकृति
- shape in Pashto
- شکل šᶕkəl
- shape in Tagalog
- hugis
- shape in Arabic
- شَكْل šakl, أَشْكَال ʔaškāl, صُورَة ṣūra
- shape in Malay
- bentuk
- shape in Indonesian
- bentuk
- shape in Thai
- รูปร่าง rûup-râang, รูป rûup
- shape in Vietnamese
- hình dáng, hình thức, hình
- shape in Myanmar
- ပုံ pum
Examples of shape in a sentence
- The bumpers and front tyres were ruined, but the body of the car was in remarkable shape.
- The shape of the nozzle prevents the use of aftermarket eartips.
- Hey, don't get bent out of shape over it; I was just funning you.
Synonyms of shape
Forms of shape
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | shapes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | shapes |
| present participle | shaping |
| past | shaped |
| past participle | shaped |
| past (obsolete) | shope |
| past participle (obsolete) | shope |
| past participle (archaic) | shapen |
| first-person singular past (archaic) | shope |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | shapest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | shapedst |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | shope |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | shapeth |
| third-person singular past (archaic) | shope |
| plural past (archaic) | shope |
| past subjunctive (archaic) | shope |
Origin of shape
From Middle English schap, schape, from Old English ġesceap (“shape, form, created being, creature, creation, dispensation, fate, condition, sex, gender, genitalia”), from Proto-West Germanic *ga- + *skap, from Proto-Germanic *ga- + *skapą (“shape, nature, condition”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- (“to split, cut”). The verb is from Middle English shapen, schapen, from Old English scieppan (“to shape, form, make, create, assign, arrange, destine, order, adjudge”), from Proto-West Germanic *skappjan, from Proto-Germanic *skapjaną (“to create”), from the noun. The noun is cognate with Middle Dutch schap (“form”), Middle High German geschaf (“creature”), Icelandic skap (“state, condition, temper, mood”). The verb is cognate with Dutch scheppen, German schaffen, Swedish skapa (“create, make”), Norwegian Bokmål skape (“create”). Doublet of -ship.
Words formed from shape
- bandshape
- bash into shape
- beat into shape
- blendshape
- body shape
- cut up shapes
- day shape
- deshape
- eigenshape
- eyeshape
- get bent out of shape
- get into shape
- handshape
- headshape
- in any shape or form
- in any way, shape, or form
- in bad shape
- in no shape to
- in no way, shape, or form
- in shape
- into shape
- knock into shape
- lick into shape
- lineshape
- out of shape
- ring-shaped
- shapechanger
- shapefile
- shapeful
- shapeless
- shapelet
- shapely
- shape memory alloy
- shape-note
- shape note
- shape operator
- shape poem
- shape poetry
- shaper
- shape rotator
- shapeshifter
- shape-shifter
- shape-shifting
- shape sorter
- shapester
- shapewear
- shapometer
- shepster
- shipshape
- show shapes
- subshape
- supershape
- take shape
- the shape of things to come
- transhape
- transshape
- T-shape
- unshape
- waveshape
- whip into shape
Phrases with shape
- shape up
- shape for
- took shape
- blend shape
- shape poems
- taken shape
- takes shape
- taking shape
- contest shape
- got into shape
- shape rotators
- gets into shape
26 more phrasesFewer phrases
- shape operators
- beats into shape
- licks into shape
- whips into shape
- bashed into shape
- bashes into shape
- beaten into shape
- gotten into shape
- knocks into shape
- licked into shape
- bashing into shape
- beating into shape
- getting into shape
- knocked into shape
- licking into shape
- whipped into shape
- knocking into shape
- shape memory alloys
- whipping into shape
- shape up or ship out
- got bent out of shape
- gets bent out of shape
- gotten bent out of shape
- in no way, shape or form
- getting bent out of shape
- in any way, shape or form
Words that rhyme with shape
21 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about shape
- What does shape mean?
- Shape means the status or condition of something.
- What is shape in Hindi?
- Shape in Hindi is आकार (ākār), शक्ल (śakla), डोल (ḍol). See Shape meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is shape?
- Shape can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce shape?
- Shape is pronounced /ˈʃeɪ̯p/.
- What is the plural of shape?
- The plural of shape is shapes.
Words near shape in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shape (page history and authors); shape (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); आकार (Marathi) (page history and authors); ആകൃതി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); shape (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); shape (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); અંગ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); shape (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); আকাৰ (Assamese) (page history and authors); shape (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-shape.ogg.
Cite this entry: “shape.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shape. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.