Verb

(en verb)

(intransitive, of persons, often followed by to) To act in accordance with expectations; to behave in the manner of others, especially as a result of social pressure.

* 1822 , , Peveril of the Peak , ch. 1:

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

* 1839 , , The Voyage of the Beagle , ch. 4:

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

To be in accordance with a set of specifications or regulations, or with a policy or guideline.

* 1919 , , The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit , ch. 11:

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

* 2006 22 Dec., " Judge Cuts Amount of Vioxx Award ," New York Times (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.

To make similar in form or nature; to make suitable for a purpose; to adapt.

* , "Vanbrugh's House" in The Poems of Jonathan Swift (1910 edition):

There is a worm by Phoebus bred,

By leaves of mulberry is fed,

Which unprovided where to dwell,

Conforms itself to weave a cell.

* 1836 , , Nature , ch. 6:

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

Verb

(transitive)  To be like or similar to (something); to represent as similar.

* Shakespeare

We will resemble you in that.

*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.}}

* 2005 , .

But what you've just described does resemble a person of that kind.

The twins resemble each other.

To compare; to regard as similar, to liken.

* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.x:

And th'other all yclad in garments light, / Discolour'd like to womanish disguise, / He did resemble to his Ladie bright [...].

(obsolete)  To counterfeit; to imitate.

* Holland

They can so well resemble man's speech.

(obsolete)  To cause to imitate or be like; to make similar.