take shape

idiomatic 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

Next Monday’s opening of the free agent negotiating window will begin to show everyone how that plan will take shape. —Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 2 Mar. 2026

And as the period for those to file to run for the seat nears a close, the race is beginning to take shape and it’s peppered with question marks. —Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Oc Register, 28 Feb. 2026

As Goldman Sachs grows its presence in Dallas, its investments in the city’s housing communities are also taking shape. —Neal Franklin, Dallas Morning News, 28 Feb. 2026

The diner concept took shape on the streets of Providence. —Will Richmond, The Providence Journal, 28 Feb. 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