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Showing results for take shape. Search instead for wave+shape.
Synonyms

take shape

Idioms  

  1. 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.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As research at the site continues, scientists expect even more discoveries that could deepen our understanding of how human society first began to take shape.

From Science Daily • Apr. 12, 2026

Today, elevator engineers are working to overcome numerous other obstacles as cities of the future take shape.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026

The field of candidates did not take shape until the week of the February filing deadline.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2026

At the same time, the struggle over Iran's future leadership is already beginning to take shape.

From BBC • Mar. 7, 2026

It began to take shape in its same curious, light, gravity-defying attitude—the once-folded sheet out of the wistaria Mississippi summer, the cigar smell, the random blowing of the fireflies.

From "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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