conform
verbUK /kənˈfɔːm/ · US /kənˈfɔɹm/
Etymology From Middle English conformen, borrowed from Middle French and Anglo-Norman conformer, from Latin conformāre (“to mould, to shape after”).
1
To adapt to something by more closely matching it, especially something normative.
- There is a worm by Phoebus bred, By leaves of mulberry is fed, Which unprovided where to dwell, Conforms itself to weave a cell.c. 1710, “Vanbrugh's House”, in The Poems of Jonathan Swift, 1910 edition, Jonathan Swift:
- The sensual man conforms thoughts to things; the poet conforms things to his thoughts.1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson, chapter 6, in Nature:
1 more example
- 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, [...].1961 February, Cecil J. Allen, “Salute to the "Claud Hamiltons" & "Directors"”, in Trains Illustrated, page 115:
2
Often, With to To change to more closely match typical characteristics or behavior.
- [H]e had a dispensation for conforming in outward observances to the Protestant faith.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:
- [B]y conforming to the dress and habits of the Gauchos, he has obtained an unbounded popularity in the country.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:
1 more example
- 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.1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 110:
3
Of things or procedures To be as required or recommended by a specification, regulation, or policy.
- In height and breadth it conformed to the prescribed measurements laid down by the rules of the contest.1919, Hildegard G. Frey, chapter 11, in The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit:
- 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.2006 December 22, “Judge Cuts Amount of Vioxx Award”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 12 Jul 2022, retrieved 07 Jun 2011:
- Synonyms
- acquiesce, comply, go along to get along, knuckle under, submit, blow with the wind, conform, fall in line, fall in with, float with the stream, follow the crowd, go with the flow
- Antonyms
- nonconform
- Derived terms
- coconform, conformability, conformal, conformingly, inconform, misconform, nonconform, nonconforming, osmoconform, osmoconforming, overconform, preconform, reconform, thermoconform, unconformed, unconforming, underconform
- Related terms
- conformance, conformation, conformer, conformism, conformist, conformity, go native, when in Rome, do as the Romans do
- Hyponyms
- acquiesce