take shape

English

Verb

take shape (third-person singular simple present takes shape, present participle taking shape, simple past took shape, past participle taken shape)

1. (intransitive, often figurative) To take a definite form.

   After two hours of discussion, our plans began to take shape.

   • 1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 285:

     Yet it was all interesting and the process of being partly responsible for stripping down a locomotive and seeing it take shape again was quite a thrill.

   • 1960 March, J. P. Wilson, E. N. C. Haywood, “The route through the Peak - Derby to Manchester: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 148:

     It was the section of the North Midland Railway from Derby to Ambergate which provided the springboard for a scheme that took shape in the early part of 1845 for a route through the Peak to Manchester.

Synonyms

• come into being, form; see also Thesaurus:come into being

Translations

take a definite form

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 成型 (zh) (chéngxíng), 成形 (zh) (chéngxíng), 形成 (zh) (xíngchéng)

• Dutch: vorm krijgen
• Finnish: muotoutua (fi)
• French: prendre forme (fr)
• German: Gestalt annehmen, sich formen
• Japanese: 形をとる (katachi o toru)
• Turkish: şekil almak (tr)