CONFORMATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does conformation mean? 

• CONFORMATION (noun)
  The noun CONFORMATION has 3 senses:

1. a symmetrical arrangement of the parts of a thing

2. any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline)

3. acting according to certain accepted standards

  Familiarity information: CONFORMATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONFORMATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A symmetrical arrangement of the parts of a thing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("conformation" is a kind of...):

balance; counterbalance; equilibrium; equipoise (equality of distribution)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

configuration; conformation; contour; form; shape

Context example:

he could barely make out their shapes

Hypernyms ("conformation" is a kind of...):

spatial property; spatiality (any property relating to or occupying space)

Attribute:

straight (having no deviations)

crooked (having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "conformation"):

stratification (a layered configuration)

crookedness (having or distinguished by crooks or curves or bends or angles)

straightness (freedom from crooks or curves or bends or angles)

roundness (the property possessed by a line or surface that is curved and not angular)

curvature; curve (the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface)

narrowing (an instance of becoming narrow)

angularity (the property possessed by a shape that has angles)

convexity; convexness (the property possessed by a convex shape)

concaveness; concavity (the property possessed by a concave shape)

lobularity (the property of having lobules)

topography (the configuration of a surface and the relations among its man-made and natural features)

bluntness; dullness (without sharpness or clearness of edge or point)

keenness; sharpness (thinness of edge or fineness of point)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Acting according to certain accepted standards

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

abidance; compliance; conformation; conformity

Context example:

their financial statements are in conformity with generally accepted accounting practices

Hypernyms ("conformation" is a kind of...):

cooperation (joint operation or action)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "conformation"):

line (acting in conformity)

honoring; observance (conformity with law or custom or practice etc.)

keeping (conformity or harmony)

formality (compliance with formal rules)

Derivation:

conform (be similar, be in line with)

 Context examples 

Fexofenadine competitively binds peripheral H1-receptors, thereby stabilizing an inactive conformation of the receptor.

(Fexofenadine Hydrochloride, NCI Thesaurus)

Kringle domains are characterised by a triple loop, 3-disulphide bridge structure, whose conformation is defined by a number of hydrogen bonds and small pieces of anti-parallel beta-sheet.

(Kringle Domain, NCI Thesaurus)

It can bind the enzyme reverse transcriptase (RT) in multiple conformations, both for native and mutant RT, thereby blocking the enzymatic activity of RT.

(Etravirine, NCI Thesaurus)

Estrogen binds to and activates specific nuclear receptors, which, in turn, bind to estrogen response elements (EREs) in target genes, resulting in histone acetylation, alteration of chromatin conformation, and initiation of transcription.

(Estrogens, Conjugated, NCI Thesaurus)

Drug-, radiation-induced, or spontaneous injuries to DNA that introduce deviations from its normal double-helical conformation.

(DNA Damage, NCI Thesaurus)

The technique revealed that 8-oxo-dGTP is inserted opposite cytosine in one conformation and opposite adenine in another.

(Structural Snapshots of Damaged DNA, NIH)

These residues exist in an alpha-helical conformation, with the leucine side chains extending from one alpha helix interdigitating with those displayed from a similar alpha helix of a second polypeptide, facilitating dimerization.

(Leucine Zipper, NCI Thesaurus)

Ligand interaction often alters protein molecular conformation and function.

(Ligand Binding Protein Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Process by which a nucleic acid macromolecule assumes an energetically favorable three-dimensional conformation as a result of intrinsic and extrinsic atomic physical forces.

(Nucleic Acid Folding, NCI Thesaurus)

Ligand-bound NR conformation allows coactivator interaction with the ligand-binding domain that mediates interaction with heat shock proteins, cyclophilins, and ligand.

(Orphan Nuclear Receptor Gene, NCI Thesaurus)