formless
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of formless
Explanation
Something formless either has no definite shape, like fog or smoke, or lacks structure, like a formless movie that doesn't seem to have much of a plot. You can use this adjective to describe things that are physically vague and shapeless, from formless crowds of people surging forward at a rock concert or the formless, ghost-like shapes in your dark basement. It's also good for things like songs, poems, ideas, or concepts that are unstructured or incoherent and hard to make sense of.
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.
It’s more like she is formless, and she is speaking as essentially your highest self.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2025
The arias and duets, which are almost always slowly paced and formless, lack that visceral, theatrical punch and do not musically distinguish one character from another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2025
Sometimes, it’s easier just to keep anguish as a nameless, formless thing, as Victor does in the first half of the film’s tagline: “Something bad happened to Agnes.”
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2025
The defining complaint about the sacked Dutchman was that after two-and-a-bit seasons the football was still formless and the tactical direction indecipherable.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2024
Out of the formless stream of sad but horrible sounds, strings of words would now and again shape themselves: grim, hard, cold words, heartless and miserable.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
