TAKE SHAPE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does take shape mean? 

• TAKE SHAPE (verb)
  The verb TAKE SHAPE has 1 sense:

1. develop into a distinctive entity

  Familiarity information: TAKE SHAPE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TAKE SHAPE (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Develop into a distinctive entity

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

form; spring; take form; take shape

Context example:

our plans began to take shape

Hypernyms (to "take shape" is one way to...):

become (come into existence)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "take shape"):

regenerate (be formed or shaped anew)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

It is within these dark wombs that stars are just beginning to take shape.

(The 'Serpent' star-forming cloud hatches new stars, NASA)

By looking closely and steadily at where a pair of eyes burned in the darkness, the form of the animal would slowly take shape.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

First she loomed before me like a blot of something yet blacker than darkness, then her spars and hull began to take shape, and the next moment, as it seemed (for, the farther I went, the brisker grew the current of the ebb), I was alongside of her hawser and had laid hold.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A dim background started to take shape behind him but at her next remark it faded away.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)

For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man's, as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)