to take shape
37
3.7
- phrasal verb
:
tomar forma
- The project details began to take shape after the first few meetings.
- begin to take shape
- an idea takes shape
- gradually take shape
Have you noticed that the point was taking shape as you were reading?
- Have you noticed that the point was taking shape as you were reading?
- How did these words take shape in your life?
- And then that's when I'd say the fighting takes shape and things take shape.
- Watching a great performance take shape is one of the true thrills of directing.
- You can see that the more I scrunch, the more it's going to take shape.
- They were just a source of funds and a way of demonstrating to investors that things were taking shape in Poyais.
- One single primal narrative, the true picture, the true full picture begins to take shape.
- Working your way through it, you see Julia the legend, taking shape.
Examples
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The team was beginning to take shape, and an interesting thing began to happen.
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To Larissa's delight, the true landscape began to take shape in the distance.
Fiction book (1992) -
Your dreams start to take shape.
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I really like how it's taking shape.
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Things are really starting to take shape.
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Therefore, the movement is implementing some new ideas, which will take shape as time goes by.
Academic text (1990) -
The embryo is now starting to take shape.
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Well, if your dream is starting to take shape, then that's a positive thing.
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And slowly, very slowly the windmill began to take shape.
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Watching a great performance take shape is one of the true thrills of directing.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Become gradually a certain way, for example feeling or weather
451
1.0
To begin to exist or take shape
4
3.5
To begin to develop and become clear in shape or idea
How Developed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is compositionally predictable: 'take' (assume/enter a state) combined with 'shape' (form/appearance) yields 'assume a form' — i.e., begin to form or become defined. This metaphorical but transparent mapping is common cross-linguistically (e.g. French 'prendre forme', Spanish 'tomar forma') and follows standard English patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would likely infer the meaning.
Etymology
Take shape comes from the world of makers, like potters and sculptors. When they work, the clay or wood slowly seems to take a shape, so the phrase now means 'to begin to develop' or 'to become clearer'.