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Form vs Public - What's the difference?

form | public |

As a noun form

is shape.

As an adjective public is

public.

form

English

Alternative forms

* forme (rare or archaic)

Noun

(en noun)
  • To do with shape.
  • # The shape or visible structure of a thing or person.
  • #* 1699 , , Heads designed for an essay on conversations
  • Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1892, author=(James Yoxall)
  • , chapter=5, title= The Lonely Pyramid , passage=The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.
  • #* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-10, author=Audrey Garric, volume=188, issue=22, page=30
  • , magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Urban canopies let nature bloom , passage=As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field.}}
  • # A thing that gives shape to other things as in a mold.
  • # Characteristics not involving atomic components. (rfex)
  • # (label) A long bench with no back.
  • #* 1981 , (w), (The Book of Ebenezer Le Page) , New York 2007, p. 10:
  • I can see the old schoolroom yet: the broken-down desks and the worn-out forms with knots in that got stuck into your backside.
  • #* 2010 , (Stephen Fry), :
  • The prefect grabbed me by the shoulders and steered me down a passageway, and down another and finally through a door that led into a long, low dining-room crowded with loudly breakfasting boys sitting on long, shiny oak forms , as benches used to be called.
  • # (label) The boundary line of a material object. In painting, more generally, the human body.
  • # (label) The combination of planes included under a general crystallographic symbol. It is not necessarily a closed solid.
  • (label) To do with structure or procedure.
  • # An order of doing things, as in religious ritual.
  • # Established method of expression or practice; fixed way of proceeding; conventional or stated scheme; formula.
  • #* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • Those whom form of laws / Condemned to die.
  • # Constitution; mode of construction, organization, etc.; system.
  • # Show without substance; empty, outside appearance; vain, trivial, or conventional ceremony; conventionality; formality.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Though well we may not pass upon his life / Without the form of justice.
  • # (label) A class or rank in society.
  • #* (w) (1643-1715)
  • ladies of a high form
  • # (label) A criminal record; loosely, past history (in a given area).
  • #* 2011 , Jane Martinson, The Guardian , 4 May:
  • It's fair to say she has form on this: she has criticised David Cameron's proposal to create all-women shortlists for prospective MPs, tried to ban women wearing high heels at work as the resulting pain made them take time off work, and tried to reduce the point at which an abortion can take place from 24 to 21 weeks.
  • # (label) Level.
  • ## A class or year of students (often preceded by an ordinal number to specify the year, as in (sixth form)).
  • ##* 1928 , George Bickerstaff, The mayor, and other folk
  • #
    One other day after afternoon school, Mr. Percival came behind me and put his hand on me. "Let me see, what's your name? Which form are you in?"
  • ##* 1976 , Ronald King, School and college: studies of post-sixteen education
  • #
    From the sixth form will come the scholars and the administrators.
  • ## (label) Grade (level of pre-collegiate education).
  • A blank document or template to be filled in by the user.
  • (label) A grouping of words which maintain grammatical context in different usages; the particular shape or structure of a word or part of speech.
  • The den or home of a hare.
  • *, II.29:
  • Being one day a hunting, I found a Hare sitting in her forme .
  • *, I.iii.1.2:
  • The Egyptians therefore in their hieroglyphics expressed a melancholy man by a hare sitting in her form , as being a most timorous and solitary creature.
  • * 1974 , (Lawrence Durrell), , Faber & Faber 1992, p.275:
  • Hares left their snug ‘forms ’ in the cold grass.
  • A window or dialogue box.
  • * 1998 , Gary Cornell, Visual Basic 6 from the ground up (p.426)
  • While it is quite amazing how much one can do with Visual Basic with the code attached to a single form .
  • * Neil Smyth, C# Essentials
  • Throughout this chapter we will work with a form in a new project.
  • (label) An infraspecific rank.
  • The type or other matter from which an impression is to be taken, arranged and secured in a chase.
  • (label) A quantic.
  • Synonyms

    * (shape) ** figure, used when discussing people, not animals ** shape, used on animals and on persons * (blank document) formular * (pre-collegiate level) grade * (biology)

    Derived terms

    * form class * form factor * form feed * form genera * form genus * form letter * form taxon * in form * longform * mid-season form * return to form * shortform * subform * typeform

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To give shape or visible structure to (a thing or person).
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner
  • , title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.}}
  • (lb) To take shape.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Stephen P. Lownie], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/david-m-pelz David M. Pelz
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Stents to Prevent Stroke , passage=As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels. The reason plaque forms isn’t entirely known, but it seems to be related to high levels of cholesterol inducing an inflammatory response, which can also attract and trap more cellular debris over time.}}
  • To create (a word) by inflection or derivation.
  • :
  • (lb) To constitute, to compose, to make up.
  • :
  • *(Edmund Burke) (1729-1797)
  • *:the diplomatic politicianswho formed by far the majority
  • *
  • *:But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶.
  • *1948 May, Stanley Pashko, “The Biggest Family”, in (w, Boys' Life) , Volume 38, Number 5, Boy Scouts of America, ISSN 0006-8608, p.10:
  • *:Insects form the biggest family group in nature's kingdom, and also the oldest.
  • To mould or model by instruction or discipline.
  • :
  • *(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • *:'Tis education forms the common mind.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:Thus formed for speed, he challenges the wind.
  • To provide (a hare) with a form.
  • *(Michael Drayton) (1563-1631)
  • *:The melancholy hare is formed in brakes and briers.
  • Statistics

    *

    public

    English

    (wikipedia public)

    Alternative forms

    * publick, publicke, publique (all obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Able to be seen or known by everyone; open to general view, happening without concealment.
  • * 2011 , Sandra Laville, The Guardian , 18 Apr 2011:
  • Earlier this month Godwin had to make a public apology to the family of Daniel Morgan after the collapse of a £30m inquiry into his murder in 1987.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.}}
  • Pertaining to all the people as a whole (as opposed a private group); concerning the whole country, community etc.
  • * 2010 , Adam Vaughan, The Guardian , 16 Sep 2010:
  • A mere 3% of the more than 1,000 people interviewed said they actually knew what the conference was about. It seems safe to say public awareness of the Convention on Biological Awareness in Nagoya - and its goal of safeguarding wildlife - is close to non-existent.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-17, author=George Monbiot, authorlink=George Monbiot
  • , title=Money just makes the rich suffer, volume=188, issue=23, page=19 , magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) citation , passage=In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]  The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.}}
  • Officially representing the community; carried out or funded by the state on behalf of the community.
  • * , chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.}}
  • * 2004 , The Guardian , Leader, 18 Jun 2004:
  • But culture's total budget is a tiny proportion of all public spending; it is one of the government's most visible success stories.
  • Open to all members of a community; especially, provided by national or local authorities and supported by money from taxes.
  • * 2011 , David Smith, The Guardian , 10 May 2011:
  • Some are left for dead on rubbish tips, in refuge bags or at public toilets.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)
  • , volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.}}
  • (of a company) Traded publicly via a stock market.
  • Antonyms

    * private

    Derived terms

    * go public * in public * initial public offering * public address system * public assistance * public domain * public eye * public figure * public good * public health * Public Health System * public holiday * public house * public intellectual * public interest * public intoxication * public key * public law * public leaning post * public library * Public Limited Liability Company * public office * public policy * public-private partnership * public property * public school * public servant * public service * public speaking * public transportation * public works * publican * publically * publicly held * publicness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The people in general, regardless of membership of any particular group.
  • Members of the public may not proceed beyond this point.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
  • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=“Two or three months more went by?; the public were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this semi-exotic claimant to an English peerage, and sensations, surpassing those of the Tichbourne case, were looked forward to with palpitating interest. […]”}}
  • * 2007 May 4, Martin Jacques,
  • Bush and Blair stand condemned by their own publics and face imminent political extinction.
  • (archaic) A public house; an inn.
  • (Sir Walter Scott)

    Usage notes

    * Although generally considered uncountable, this noun does also have countable usage, as in the quotation above.

    Derived terms

    * antipublic * general public * * public relations * public-spirited

    Statistics

    *