form

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a mold for setting concrete

   they built elaborate forms for pouring the foundation

2. 2
   noun

   a particular mode in which something is manifested

   My resentment took the form of extreme hostility.

3. 3
   noun

   an ability to perform well

   They were at the top of their form.

4. 4
   noun

   a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality

   sculpture is a form of art

5. 5
   noun

   a perceptual structure

   the composition presents problems for students of musical form

6. 6
   noun

   the phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something

   the inflected forms of a word can be represented by a stem and a list of inflections to be attached

7. 7
   noun

   a printed document with spaces in which to write

   The tax form had complicated instructions for us to fill it out.

8. 8
   noun

   an arrangement of the elements in a composition or discourse

   the essay was in the form of a dialogue

Etymology

From Middle English forme (“shape, figure, manner, bench, frame, seat, condition, agreement, etc.”), borrowed from Old French forme, from Latin fōrma (“shape, figure, image, outline, plan, mold, frame, case, etc., manner, sort, kind, etc.”). In sense "division grouping school students" (now dated), derived from public school nomenclature later adopted by state schools. It is sometimes said to be from the sense of "bench", where students of certain ages would sit together, though this is disputed, or alternatively from the sense of "established method of expression or practice".