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

New plants target 2027 Two new facilities are taking shape at L3Harris’ Camden, Arkansas, site. — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 9 Sep. 2026

For Vicki Lafer Abrahamson, more than four decades in employment law have meant witnessing an emerging field take shape, challenging established thinking, and helping define protections that employees now rely on. — Matt Emma, USA Today, 9 Sep. 2026

The next step will be seeing additional indicators and longer-term reference points take shape. — Frank Cappelleri, CNBC, 9 Sep. 2026

Between the trauma of a hit-and-run and the anxiety of impending fatherhood, the idea for Onslaught, Wingard’s most personal film to date, began to take shape. — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 8 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