form

A suffix used to denote in the form / shape of, resembling, etc.; as, valiform; oviform.

The shape and structure of anything, as distinguished from the material of which it is composed; particular disposition or arrangement of matter, giving it individuality or distinctive character; configuration; figure; external appearance.

Constitution; mode of construction, organization, etc.; system; as, a republican form of government.

Established method of expression or practice; fixed way of proceeding; conventional or stated scheme; formula; as, a form of prayer.

Show without substance; empty, outside appearance; vain, trivial, or conventional ceremony; conventionality; formality; as, a matter of mere form.

Orderly arrangement; shapeliness; also, comeliness; elegance; beauty.

A shape; an image; a phantom.

That by which shape is given or determined; mold; pattern; model.

A long seat; a bench; hence, a rank of students in a school; a class; also, a class or rank in society.

The seat or bed of a hare.

The type or other matter from which an impression is to be taken, arranged and secured in a chase.

The boundary line of a material object. In painting, more generally, the human body.

The particular shape or structure of a word or part of speech; as, participial forms; verbal forms.

The combination of planes included under a general crystallographic symbol. It is not necessarily a closed solid.

That assemblage or disposition of qualities which makes a conception, or that internal constitution which makes an existing thing to be what it is; -- called essential or substantial form, and contradistinguished from matter; hence, active or formative nature; law of being or activity; subjectively viewed, an idea; objectively, a law.

Mode of acting or manifestation to the senses, or the intellect; as, water assumes the form of ice or snow. In modern usage, the elements of a conception furnished by the mind's own activity, as contrasted with its object or condition, which is called the matter; subjectively, a mode of apprehension or belief conceived as dependent on the constitution of the mind; objectively, universal and necessary accompaniments or elements of every object known or thought of.

The peculiar characteristics of an organism as a type of others; also, the structure of the parts of an animal or plant.

To give form or shape to; to frame; to construct; to make; to fashion.

To give a particular shape to; to shape, mold, or fashion into a certain state or condition; to arrange; to adjust; also, to model by instruction and discipline; to mold by influence, etc.; to train.

To go to make up; to act as constituent of; to be the essential or constitutive elements of; to answer for; to make the shape of; -- said of that out of which anything is formed or constituted, in whole or in part.

To provide with a form, as a hare. See Form, n., 9.

To derive by grammatical rules, as by adding the proper suffixes and affixes.

To take a form, definite shape, or arrangement; as, the infantry should form in column.

To run to a form, as a hare.

a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality; "sculpture is a form of art"; "what kinds of desserts are there?"

establish or impress firmly in the mind; "We imprint our ideas onto our children"

a perceptual structure; "the composition presents problems for students of musical form"; "a visual pattern must include not only objects but the spaces between them"

(biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups; "a new strain of microorganisms"

(physical chemistry) a distinct state of matter in a system; matter that is identical in chemical composition and physical state and separated from other material by the phase boundary; "the reaction occurs in the liquid phase of the system"

an arrangement of the elements in a composition or discourse; "the essay was in the form of a dialogue"; "he first sketches the plot in outline form"

the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something; "the inflected forms of a word can be represented by a stem and a list of inflections to be attached"

the visual appearance of something or someone; "the delicate cast of his features"

an ability to perform well; "he was at the top of his form"; "the team was off form last night"

a particular mode in which something is manifested; "his resentment took the form of extreme hostility"