Idioms for shape

    take shape, to assume a fixed form; become definite: The house is beginning to take shape.

Origin of shape

before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English gesceapu (plural); replacing dial. shap, Middle English; Old English gesceap (singular); cognate with Old Norse skap state, mood; (v.) Middle English; Old English sceapen (past participle); replacing Middle English sheppe, shippe, Old English sceppan, scyppan; cognate with German schaffen, Old Norse skepja, Gothic -skapjan to make

SYNONYMS FOR shape

4 specter, illusion.
7 order, pattern.
8 order, situation.
14 mold, model.

OTHER WORDS FROM shape

Example sentences from the Web for shaping

British Dictionary definitions for shaping (1 of 2)

shape
/ (ʃeɪp) /

noun

verb

Derived forms of shape

shapable or shapeable, adjective shaper, noun

Word Origin for shape

Old English gesceap, literally: that which is created, from scieppan to create; related to sceap sexual organs, Old Norse skap destiny, Old High German scaf form

British Dictionary definitions for shaping (2 of 2)

SHAPE
/ (ʃeɪp) /

n acronym for

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe

Medical definitions for shaping

shaping
[ shāpĭng ]

n.

A technique that is used in operant conditioning in which the behavior is modified by stepwise reinforcement of behaviors that produce progressively closer approximations of the desired behavior.

Idioms and Phrases with shaping

shape