of a definite form, shape, or character (often used in combination).
a U-shaped driveway.
designed to fit a particular form, body, or contour.
a shaped garment.
Furniture. having other than a plane surface.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It’s so common for kids to never really understand how their parents grew up with money and how that shaped them.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
The trend underscores how dissent is increasingly being shaped by internet culture, particularly among the Gen Z.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
Born in Guatemala and brought to the U.S. by his parents, he also was shaped by growing up in racially diverse parts of South L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Damage and deformation on the artifact suggest that the bone was still relatively fresh when it was shaped and used.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
“Hope Springs has always been special to me. My time here shaped me in ways that to this day contribute to my success, and for that, I’m very grateful to this community.”
From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry
Also appealing and true to its common name, but for brighter light: string of pearls, Senecio rowleyanus, a South African species with succulent pea-sized and -shaped leaves that cascade over a pot edge.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 14, 2021
Into that -shaped void has been thrust the third series of the French law and order procedural, Spiral.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 2, 2011
Since some people are convinced that dowsing, A B a method of finding underground water with a Y -shaped stick, is effective, but others condemn the procedure ~ mere superstition.
From SAT Tests
These were patterns made up of squares or -shaped lines interlaced and made to seem intricate, though originally simple.
From Architecture Classic and Early Christian by Smith, T. Roger (Thomas Roger)
Tongue ovoid, barely notched behind and slightly free posteriorly; vomerine teeth 2-3, situated on -shaped elevations between round inner nares; openings to vocal sac large, one situated along inner posterior edge of each mandibular ramus.
From A Review of the Middle American Tree Frogs of the Genus Ptychohyla by Duellman, William E.
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.
