take shape


Also, shape up. Turn out, develop, acquire a distinctive form, as in Her reelection campaign is already taking shape, two years before the election, or Can you tell us how the book is shaping up? The first term dates from the mid-1700s and the variant, originally put as shape out, from about 1600.

Words Nearby take shape

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use take shape in a sentence

  • In Upper Canada party struggles did not take shape until well after the War of 1812.

    The Canadian Dominion | Oscar D. Skelton
  • He smiled at his foolish fancy, but dramatic incidents began to take shape about the image of that girl.

    The White Shield | Myrtle Reed
  • These things take shape in the mind of the reader; they are recreated and set up where the mind's eye can rest on them.

    The Craft of Fiction | Percy Lubbock
  • These desires readily take shape in the city as the spirit of war and as a craving for excitement of various kinds.

    The Psychology of Nations | G.E. Partridge
  • When the dawn slowly stole into the garden, so that the ghosts of day began to take shape and color, Gavan rose among them.

    The Shadow of Life | Anne Douglas Sedgwick