conform
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /kənˈfɔːm/
ipa: /kənˈfɔɹm/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)m
Forms: form: conforms
form: conforming
form: conformed
form: conformed
Etymology: From Middle English conformen, borrowed from Middle French and Anglo-Norman conformer, from Latin conformāre (“to mould, to shape after”).
Senses: examples: text: There is a worm by Phoebus bred,
By leaves of mulberry is fed,
Which unprovided where to dwell,
Conforms itself to weave a cell.
ref: c. 1710, “Vanbrugh's House”, in The Poems of Jonathan Swift, 1910 edition, Jonathan Swift:
text: The sensual man conforms thoughts to things; the poet conforms things to his thoughts.
ref: 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson, chapter 6, in Nature:
text: When Nos. 1870 to 1879 emerged, in 1902, the circular front windows of the cab had given place to much larger windows, conforming to the shape of the cab roof on top and the firebox top below, [...].
ref: 1961 February, Cecil J. Allen, “Salute to the "Claud Hamiltons" & "Directors"”, in Trains Illustrated, page 115:
glosses: To adapt to something by more closely matching it, especially something normative.
examples: text: [H]e had a dispensation for conforming in outward observances to the Protestant faith.
ref: 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages 5–6:
text: [B]y conforming to the dress and habits of the Gauchos, he has obtained an unbounded popularity in the country.
ref: 1839, Robert FitzRoy, Phillip Parker King, Charles Darwin, chapter IV, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
text: In any case, most of these sharks are gray or grayish, and they certainly are typical in that they conform to everyone's idea of what a shark is supposed to look like.
ref: 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 110:
glosses: To adapt to something by more closely matching it, especially something normative.
To change to more closely match typical characteristics or behavior.
examples: text: In height and breadth it conformed to the prescribed measurements laid down by the rules of the contest.
ref: 1919, Hildegard G. Frey, chapter 11, in The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit:
text: A judge in a Texas widow’s lawsuit over the Merck drug Vioxx reduced a $32 million jury award to about $7.75 million on Thursday so that it conformed to state law.
ref: 2006 December 22, “Judge Cuts Amount of Vioxx Award”, in New York Times, retrieved 07 Jun 2011:
glosses: To be as required or recommended by a specification, regulation, or policy.
raw_tags: of things or procedures
Synonyms: sense: to act in accordance with expectations
word: acquiesce
word: comply
word: go along to get along
word: knuckle under
word: submit
word: blow with the wind
word: conform
word: fall in line
word: fall in with
word: float with the stream
word: follow the crowd
word: go with the flow
Hyponyms: word: acquiesce
Derived terms: coconform
conformability
conformal
conformingly
inconform
misconform
nonconform
nonconforming
osmoconform
osmoconforming
overconform
preconform
reconform
thermoconform
unconformed
unconforming
underconform
Related terms: word: conformance
word: conformation
word: conformer
word: conformism
word: conformist
word: conformity
word: go native
word: when in Rome
word: do as the Romans do