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

Miami-Dade leads small business creation The WildCat Room is taking shape amid a boom in entrepreneurship across the county. — Maykel Gonzalez, Miami Herald, 19 Sep. 2026

As is common with many documentary projects, the narrative took shape in the edit bay. — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 19 Sep. 2026

Cumbia, a vibrant blend of music and dance, took shape along its banks at El Banco, where drummers still play the rhythms that traveled downstream to Barranquilla and eventually the rest of the world. — Condé Nast Traveler, 18 Sep. 2026

But the behavior NewTree is betting on already appears to be taking shape. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 18 Sep. 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