n.
- visible shape or configuration.
▸style, design, and arrangement in an artistic work as distinct from its content.
- a way in which a thing exists or appears:
essays in book form.
▸any of the ways in which a word may be spelled, pronounced, or inflected.
▸Philosophy the essential nature of a species or thing, especially (in Plato's thought) regarded as an abstract ideal which real things imitate or participate in.
- a type or variety.
- the customary or correct method or procedure.
▸a ritual or convention.
- a printed document with blank spaces for information to be inserted.
- chiefly Brit. a class or year in a school.
- the state of a sports player with regard to their current standard of play.
▸details of previous performances by a racehorse or greyhound.
▸a person's mood and state of health.
▸Brit. informal a criminal record.
- Brit. a long bench without a back.
- Printing, chiefly US variant spelling of forme.
- Brit. a hare's lair.
- a temporary wooden structure used to hold concrete during setting.
v.
- combine to create (something).
▸go to make up.
▸establish or develop.
▸articulate (a word or other linguistic unit).
- make or be made into a particular form:
form the dough into balls.
▸
(form people/things up or form up)
chiefly Military bring or be brought into a certain formation.
Phrase
- in
(or chiefly Brit. on)
form
playing or performing well. - off
(or chiefly Brit. out of)
form
not playing or performing well.
Derivative
- formability n.
- formable adj.
- formless adj.
- formlessly adv.
- formlessness n.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. forme (n.), fo(u)rmer (v.), both based on L. forma ‘a mould or form’.