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

The Ayers couple met Schubert at a 2023 cold case conference in Marble Falls, Texas, where the idea for the nonprofit took shape. — Leigh Egan, FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2026

Courtesy of Eric Lugo Stitch Lab ATX's future plans are already taking shape. — Jennifer Liu, CNBC, 24 Oct. 2026

Kwan, who served Chinese clients at banks like Standard Chartered and BNP Paribas, saw China’s growing wealth take shape by the early 2010s. — Angelica Ang, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2026

The result was a cascade of challenges, including the state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, declaring bankruptcy over its role in the deadly Camp fire in Paradise in 2018, and a worsening home insurance crisis that is still taking shape. — Los Angeles Times, 23 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