shape.
The status or condition of something
Meaning & usage
The status or condition of something
The used bookshop wouldn’t offer much due to the poor shape of the book.
Condition of personal health, especially muscular health.
The vet checked to see what kind of shape the animal was in.
We exercise to keep in good physical shape.
A graphical representation of an object's form or its external boundary, outline, or external surface.
What shape shall we use for the cookies? Stars, circles, or diamonds?
Form; formation.
Your head is a funny shape, rather oblong.
A geometric figure defined by its surfaces, lines, and angles, existing in 2D or 3D
A rolled or hammered piece, such as a bar, beam, angle iron, etc., having a cross section different from merchant bar.
A piece which has been roughly forged nearly to the form it will receive when completely forged or fitted.
A mould for making blancmange, jelly, etc., or a piece of such food formed moulded into a particular shape.
A loaded die.
In the Hack programming language, a group of data fields each of which has a name and a data type.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *gaskap Old English ġesċeap Proto-Germanic *skēpą Proto-West Germanic *skāp Old English sċeap Middle English schap English shape From Middle English schap, schape, from Old English ġesceap (“shape, form, created being, creature, creation, dispensation, fate, condition, sex, gender, genitalia”), from Proto-West Germanic *ga- + *skap, from Proto-Germanic *ga- + *skapą (“shape, nature, condition”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- (“to split, cut”). The verb is from Middle English shapen, schapen, from Old English scieppan (“to shape, form, make, create, assign, arrange, destine, order, adjudge”), from Proto-West Germanic *skappjan, from Proto-Germanic *skapjaną (“to create”), from the noun. The noun is cognate with Middle Dutch schap (“form”), Middle High German geschaf (“creature”), Icelandic skap (“state, condition, temper, mood”). The verb is cognate with Dutch scheppen, German schaffen, Swedish skapa (“create, make”), Norwegian Bokmål skape (“create”). Doublet of -ship.
To create or make.
Earth was shapen by God for God's folk.
To give something a shape and definition.
Shape the dough into a pretzel. For my art project, I plan to shape my clay lump into a bowl.
To form or manipulate something into a certain shape.
To give influence to.
To suit; to be adjusted or conformable.
To imagine; to conceive.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *gaskap Old English ġesċeap Proto-Germanic *skēpą Proto-West Germanic *skāp Old English sċeap Middle English schap English shape From Middle English schap, schape, from Old English ġesceap (“shape, form, created being, creature, creation, dispensation, fate, condition, sex, gender, genitalia”), from Proto-West Germanic *ga- + *skap, from Proto-Germanic *ga- + *skapą (“shape, nature, condition”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- (“to split, cut”). The verb is from Middle English shapen, schapen, from Old English scieppan (“to shape, form, make, create, assign, arrange, destine, order, adjudge”), from Proto-West Germanic *skappjan, from Proto-Germanic *skapjaną (“to create”), from the noun. The noun is cognate with Middle Dutch schap (“form”), Middle High German geschaf (“creature”), Icelandic skap (“state, condition, temper, mood”). The verb is cognate with Dutch scheppen, German schaffen, Swedish skapa (“create, make”), Norwegian Bokmål skape (“create”). Doublet of -ship.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.