Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#CONFORMCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#CONFORM conformen, borrowed from Middle FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Middle French#CONFORM and Anglo-NormanCategory:English terms derived from Anglo-Norman#CONFORM conformer, from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#CONFORM conformāre (“to mould, to shape after”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kənˈfɔːm/Category:English 2-syllable words#CONFORMCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CONFORM

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#CONFORM
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kənˈfɔɹm/Category:English 2-syllable words#CONFORMCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CONFORM
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)mCategory:Rhymes:English/ɔː(ɹ)m#CONFORMCategory:Rhymes:English/ɔː(ɹ)m/2 syllables#CONFORM
• Hyphenation: con‧form

Verb

conform (third-person singular simple present conforms, present participle conforming, simple past and past participle conformed)Category:English lemmas#CONFORMCategory:English verbs#CONFORMCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#CONFORMCategory:Pages with entries#CONFORMCategory:Pages with 3 entries#CONFORM

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CONFORM, intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#CONFORM) To adapt to something by more closely matching it, especially something normative.
   • c. 1710, “Vanbrugh's House”, in The Poems of Jonathan Swift, 1910 edition, Jonathan Swift:

     There is a worm by Phoebus bred,
     By leaves of mulberry is fed,
     Which unprovided where to dwell,
     Conforms itself to weave a cell.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONFORM

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson, chapter 6, in Nature:

     The sensual man conforms thoughts to things; the poet conforms things to his thoughts.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONFORM

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 1961 February, Cecil J. Allen, “Salute to the "Claud Hamiltons" & "Directors"”, in Trains Illustrated, page 115:

     When Nos. 1870 to 1879 emerged, in 1902, the circular front windows of the cab had given place to much larger windows, conforming to the shape of the cab roof on top and the firebox top below, [...].

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONFORM

   1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CONFORM, intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#CONFORM, often followed by to) To change to more closely match typical characteristics or behavior.
      • 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages 5–6:

        [H]e had a dispensation for conforming in outward observances to the Protestant faith.

        Category:English terms with quotations#CONFORM

      • 1839, Robert FitzRoy, Phillip Parker King, Charles Darwin, chapter IV, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:

        [B]y conforming to the dress and habits of the Gauchos, he has obtained an unbounded popularity in the country.

        Category:English terms with quotations#CONFORM

      • 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 110:

        In any case, most of these sharks are gray or grayish, and they certainly are typical in that they conform to everyone's idea of what a shark is supposed to look like.

        Category:English terms with quotations#CONFORM

2. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#CONFORM, of things or procedures) To be as required or recommended by a specification, regulation, or policy.
   • 1919, Hildegard G. Frey, chapter 11, in The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit:

     In height and breadth it conformed to the prescribed measurements laid down by the rules of the contest.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONFORM

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 2006 December 22, “Judge Cuts Amount of Vioxx Award”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 12 July 2022, retrieved 7 June 2011:

     A judge in a Texas widow’s lawsuit over the Merck drug Vioxx reduced a $32 million jury award to about $7.75 million on Thursday so that it conformed to state law. […] But Judge Alex W. Gabert, in a Rio Grande City courtroom, ordered the punitive damage reduced to conform to a 2003 Texas law that caps punitive damages at twice the amount of economic damages — lost pay — and up to $750,000 on top of noneconomic damages.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CONFORM

References

• “conform”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Etymology

From FrenchCategory:Dutch terms borrowed from French#CONFORMCategory:Dutch terms derived from French#CONFORM conforme.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:Dutch terms with audio pronunciation#CONFORM

Preposition

conformCategory:Dutch lemmas#CONFORMCategory:Dutch prepositions#CONFORMCategory:Dutch entries with incorrect language header#CONFORMCategory:Pages with entries#CONFORMCategory:Pages with 3 entries#CONFORM

1. (somewhat formalCategory:Dutch formal terms#CONFORM) in accordance with, according to

Etymology

Borrowed from FrenchCategory:Romanian terms borrowed from French#CONFORMCategory:Romanian terms derived from French#CONFORM conforme.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /konˈform/Category:Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation#CONFORM
• Rhymes: -ormCategory:Rhymes:Romanian/orm#CONFORMCategory:Rhymes:Romanian/orm/2 syllables#CONFORM
• Hyphenation: con‧form

Preposition

conform (+dative)Category:Romanian lemmas#CONFORMCategory:Romanian prepositions#CONFORMCategory:Romanian entries with incorrect language header#CONFORMCategory:Pages with entries#CONFORMCategory:Pages with 3 entries#CONFORM

1. according to

   Synonym: potrivit

Further reading

• “conform”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026