Standard Lemma guide

forshape

verb · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To metamorphose; change the shape of; transform.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, transitive

Examples

  • late 14th century, John Gower, Confessio Amantis Unkindelich he was transformed, That he which erst a man was formed, Into a woman was forshape, That was to him an angry jape.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To put out of shape; distort; make misshapen; disfigure.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English forshapen, forschapen (“to transform”), from Old English forsċieppan, forsċeppan (“to transform”), from Proto-West Germanic *fraskappjan, equivalent to for- + shape. Cognate with German verschaffen (“to provide, supply, furnish”), Swedish förskapa (“to cut out”).