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Shape   /ʃeɪp/   Listen
Shape

noun
1.
Any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline).  Synonyms: configuration, conformation, contour, form.
2.
The spatial arrangement of something as distinct from its substance.  Synonym: form.
3.
Alternative names for the body of a human being.  Synonyms: anatomy, bod, build, chassis, figure, flesh, form, frame, human body, material body, physical body, physique, soma.  "He has a strong physique" , "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak"
4.
A concrete representation of an otherwise nebulous concept.  Synonym: embodiment.
5.
The visual appearance of something or someone.  Synonyms: cast, form.
6.
The state of (good) health (especially in the phrases 'in condition' or 'in shape' or 'out of condition' or 'out of shape').  Synonym: condition.
7.
The supreme headquarters that advises NATO on military matters and oversees all aspects of the Allied Command Europe.  Synonym: Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.
8.
A perceptual structure.  Synonyms: form, pattern.  "A visual pattern must include not only objects but the spaces between them"
verb
(past shaped; past part. shaped or shapen; pres. part. shaping)
1.
Shape or influence; give direction to.  Synonyms: determine, influence, mold, regulate.  "Mold public opinion"
2.
Make something, usually for a specific function.  Synonyms: forge, form, mold, mould, work.  "Form cylinders from the dough" , "Shape a figure" , "Work the metal into a sword"
3.
Give shape or form to.  Synonym: form.  "Form the young child's character"



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"Shape" Quotes from Famous Books



... soup-kitchen in which they were feeding about three hundred, and Mr. G. W. Hyatt, chairman of the Key West Red Cross Committee, was trying to take care of the rest; but both organizations were nearly at the end of their resources, and the local committee had nothing left in the shape of food-stuffs except corn-meal. Miss Barton at once telegraphed the Central Red Cross Committee in New York to forward thirty tons of assorted stores by first steamer, and pending the arrival of these stores ...
— Campaigning in Cuba • George Kennan

... you, Dick, as you know, ever since this thing threatened to take shape in my head," Ford began. "First, let me ask you: do you happen to know where you could lay hands on three or four good constructing engineers—men you could turn loose absolutely and trust implicitly? I'm putting this ...
— Empire Builders • Francis Lynde

... called, of stories which have already appeared elsewhere, or have passed through the circulating libraries. Nay, the novelist who has established a reputation has many more strings to his bow: his novel, thus published in the country newspapers, also appears coincidently in the same serial shape in Australia, Canada, and other British colonies, leaving the three-volume form and the cheap editions 'to the good.' And what is true of fiction is in a less degree true of other kinds of literature. Travels are 'gutted,' and form articles in magazines, illustrated by the ...
— Some Private Views • James Payn

... title-page of this volume indicates, no more is here attempted than a memorial of Charles Dickens in association with his Readings. It appeared desirable that something in the shape of an accurate record should be made of an episode in many respects so remarkable in the career of the most popular author of his generation. A commemorative volume, precisely of this character, was projected by the writer in the spring of 1870. ...
— Charles Dickens as a Reader • Charles Kent

... graces of the monarch and his favourite. The time was now come, as he at once saw, to profit by so signal a proof of policy and forethought; and Richelieu was prepared to use it with the craft and cleverness which were destined to shape out his future fortunes. To his active and ambitious spirit a residence in the capital in the character of a deposed minister was impossible; while he equally deprecated the idea of burying himself in his diocese among the marshes of Lower Poitou. He resolved, therefore, to share ...
— The Life of Marie de Medicis, Vol. 2 (of 3) • Julia Pardoe


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