take shape

phrase

: to assume a definite or distinctive form : to develop and become apparent or established

The plan is finally taking shape.

Edison's tireless work habits took shape during his childhood …

—Paul Gray

The proto-planetary fragments crashed together, coalesced by gravity, and crashed again into other fragments, until they gradually took shape as the planets we know today.

—M. Mitchell Waldrop

… the first half of the century, before the modern medical system took shape.

—Geoffrey Cowley

Examples of take shape in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While pieces fashioned from metal, including brass and iron, are an obvious choice, the motif can also take shape in bright colors, swirling abstract glass, or more vampy furniture–see, House of Hackney’s black velvet chair. — Hannah Coates, Vogue, 10 Oct. 2026

Nearly a year later, the future of a Nederland shopping center destroyed by flames is finally starting to take shape. — Sarah Horbacewicz, CBS News, 8 Oct. 2026

His lyric levitates in the lace between image and music, somehow taking form without taking shape. — Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2026

Blessed with edgy architecture, the rooms take shape along the skyscraper's rounded corner. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1560, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for take shape

• cityscape
• agape
• escape
• landscape
• lenape
• reshape
• seascape
• soundscape
• ape
• cape
• crape
• crepe