form – English noun declension

English noun forms of form

Noun: form
Singularform
Pluralforms

Sample Sentences

  • Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it. [1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations:]
  • The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.[…]Roaring, leaping, pouncing, the tempest raged about the wanderers, drowning and blotting out their forms with sandy spume. [1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:]
  • As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field. [2013 May 10, Audrey Garric, “Urban canopies let nature bloom”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 22, page 30:]
  • And there with syr Launcelot wrapped his mantel aboute his arme wel and surely and by thenne they had geten a grete fourme oute of the halle and there with all they rasshed at the dore […]. [1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XX, Chapter iv, leaf 401v:]
  • In the hall. One large table, with frame. 10s. ij cobbordes 8s. j fourme, j chaire, and j kenninge measure, 12d. [1585–1586 January 18, chapter LXIII, in [William Greenwell], editor, Wills and Inventories from the Registry at Durham. Part II (The Publications of the Surtees Society; XXXVIII), Durham: George Andrews, Durham; London: Whittaker and Co.; T. and W. Boone; Edinburgh: Blackwood and Sons, published 1860, →OCLC, page 132:]
  • I can see the old schoolroom yet: the broken-down desks and the worn-out forms with knots in that got stuck into your backside[…]. [1981, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 10:]
  • The prefect grabbed me by the shoulders and steered me down a passageway, and down another and finally through a door that led into a long, low dining-room crowded with loudly breakfasting boys sitting on long, shiny oak forms, as benches used to be called. [2010, Stephen Fry, The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography:]
  • Those whom form of laws
  • Condemned to die. [1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:]
  • [H]e sprang into the road, without previously going through the empty form of advising the driver of his intention, to pick [his hat] up. [1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:]
  • a republican form of government
  • a matter of mere form
  • Though well we may not pass upon his life
  • Without the form of justice. [c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii]:]
  • ladies of a high form [a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, edited by [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] Thomas Ward […], published 1724, →OCLC:]
  • It's fair to say she has form on this: she has criticised David Cameron's proposal to create all-women shortlists for prospective MPs, tried to ban women wearing high heels at work as the resulting pain made them take time off work, and tried to reduce the point at which an abortion can take place from 24 to 21 weeks. [2011 May 4, Jane Martinson, The Guardian:]
  • As for the notion that it’s not how Sunak would have won, that doesn’t mean a whole lot coming from a guy whose recent form includes losing to Liz Truss. [2023 July 4, Marina Hyde, “Who’s for political Bazball with Rishi? Voters? Tories? Anyone?”, in The Guardian:]
  • The team's form has been poor this year.
  • The orchestra was on top form this evening.
  • Nathaniel: Maister, there is nobody to teach in the sixth form.
  • Maister: What a thing is this?
  • N: He is sick in bed.
  • M: How do you know?
  • N: One of the scholars in his house told me so. [1653, Corderius, Colloquia scholastica Anglo-Latina, […] 1653, page 220:]
  • I am a very weak, insufficient scholar, sitting on the lowest form in Thy great school-house, which is the whole world, and trying to spell out the mere letters of Thy alphabet […] [1880, Charles Kingsley, Out of the Deep: Words for the Sorrowful, London: Macmillan & Co., page 190:]
  • One other day after afternoon school, Mr. Percival came behind me and put his hand on me. "Let me see, what's your name? Which form are you in?[…]" [1928, George Bickerstaff, The mayor, and other folk:]
  • From the sixth form will come the scholars and the administrators. [1976, Ronald King, School and college: studies of post-sixteen education:]
  • To apply for the position, complete the application form.
  • participial forms;  verb forms
  • Being one day a hunting, I found a Hare sitting in her forme[…]. [1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 29, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:]
  • The Egyptians therefore in their hieroglyphics expressed a melancholy man by a hare sitting in her form, as being a most timorous and solitary creature. [, I.iii.1.2]
  • Hares left their snug ‘forms’ in the cold grass. [1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 275:]
  • While it is quite amazing how much one can do with Visual Basic with the code attached to a single form, to take full advantage of VB you'll need to start using multiple forms and having the code on all the forms in your project interact. [1998, Gary Cornell, Visual Basic 6 from the ground up, page 426:]
  • Throughout this chapter we will work with a form in a new project. [2010, Neil Smyth, C# Essentials:]
  • And the form is inked, the paper is applied, the bed is slid, and the platen is levered down and the proof is printed. [2010, Andrea Levy, The Long Song, Tinder Press (2017), page 382:]

Etymology

1. 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.”).
2. 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". See: Middle English Nouns 'forme', Latin Nouns 'fōrma'.