shape (English) - Vocabulary & GRE App

shape

EN • English

//ʃeɪp//(General American, Received Pronunciation)

Direct German Translations & Equivalents:

Click any term below to jump straight to its full vocabulary entry in German:

[DE]Zustand [DE]Form [DE]formen

Verb Conjugation Tables & Inflections

Key Verb Forms & Inflections

Third-person singular (he/she/it):shapes

Present Participle (-ing):shaping

Simple Past:shaped

Past Participle:shaped

Definitions & Usage

noun

The status or condition of something

Example: “The used bookshop wouldn’t offer much due to the poor shape of the book.”

Synonyms:

form Gestalt gestalt

Translations:[DE]Zustand [DE]Form

noun

Condition of personal health, especially muscular health.

Example: “The vet checked to see what kind of shape the animal was in.”

Example: “We exercise to keep in good physical shape.”

Synonyms:

form Gestalt gestalt

Translations:[DE]Form

noun

A graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external surface.

Example: “What shape shall we use for the cookies? Stars, circles, or diamonds?”

Synonyms:

form Gestalt gestalt

noun

Form; formation.

Example: “Your head is a funny shape, rather oblong.”

Synonyms:

form Gestalt gestalt

Translations:

noun

(geometry) A geometric figure defined by its surfaces, lines, and angles, existing in 2D or 3D

Synonyms:

form Gestalt gestalt

noun

(iron manufacture) A rolled or hammered piece, such as a bar, beam, angle iron, etc., having a cross section different from merchant bar.

Synonyms:

form Gestalt gestalt

noun

(iron manufacture) A piece which has been roughly forged nearly to the form it will receive when completely forged or fitted.

Synonyms:

form Gestalt gestalt

noun

(cooking, now rare) A mould for making blancmange, jelly, etc., or a piece of such food formed moulded into a particular shape.

Synonyms:

form Gestalt gestalt

noun

(gambling) A loaded die.

Synonyms:

form Gestalt gestalt

noun

#10

(programming) In the Hack programming language, a group of data fields each of which has a name and a data type.

Synonyms:

form Gestalt gestalt

verb

#11

(Northern England, Scotland, rare) To create or make.

Example: “Earth was shapen by God for God's folk.”

Example: “1685, Satan's Invisible World Discoveredː Which the mighty God of heaven shope.”

Synonyms:

form mold shapen

verb

#12

(transitive) To give something a shape and definition.

Example: “Shape the dough into a pretzel. For my art project, I plan to shape my clay lump into a bowl.”

Synonyms:

form mold shapen

Translations:[DE]formen

verb

#13

To form or manipulate something into a certain shape.

Synonyms:

form mold shapen

verb

#14

(of a country, person, etc) To give influence to.

Synonyms:

form mold shapen

verb

#15

To suit; to be adjusted or conformable.

Synonyms:

form mold shapen

verb

#16

(obsolete) To imagine; to conceive.

Synonyms:

form mold shapen

Notable Literary & Historical Quotes

“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:

“What if God's plans and actions do mold the shape of human events?”

— 2006, Berdj Kenadjian, Martin Zakarian, From Darkness to Light:

“A formal feature indicating a pre-Roman origin is word-final i, which is rare in the inherited nominal and adjectival lexicon. On the basis of this we may conclude that ispéli is likely the original shape of this word.”

— 2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 356: