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Shadow vs Shape - What's the difference?

shadow | shape |

In obsolete terms the difference between shadow and shape

is that shadow is a reflected image, as in a mirror or in water while shape is to imagine; to conceive.

As nouns the difference between shadow and shape

is that shadow is a dark projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object while shape is the status or condition of something.

As verbs the difference between shadow and shape

is that shadow is to block light or radio transmission while shape is to give something a shape and definition.

shadow

English

(wikipedia shadow)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}
  • Relative darkness, especially as caused by the interruption of light; gloom, obscurity.
  • * Denham
  • Night's sable shadows from the ocean rise.
  • * Spenser
  • In secret shadow from the sunny ray, / On a sweet bed of lilies softly laid.
  • (obsolete) A reflected image, as in a mirror or in water.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • That which looms as though a shadow.
  • *
  • Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow' cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose ' shadow falls over us all.
  • A small degree; a shade.
  • * Bible, James i. 17
  • no variableness, neither shadow of turning
  • An imperfect and faint representation.
  • He came back from war the shadow of a man.
  • * Bible, Hebrews x. 1
  • the law having a shadow of good things to come
  • * Milton
  • [types] and shadows of that destined seed
  • One who secretly or furtively follows another.
  • * Milton
  • Sin and her shadow Death
  • A type of lettering form of word processors that makes a cubic effect.
  • An influence, especially a pervasive or a negative one.
  • *
  • A spirit; a ghost; a shade.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Hence, horrible shadow !
  • (obsolete, Latinism) An uninvited guest accompanying one who was invited.
  • (Nares)

    Usage notes

    * A person (or object) is said to "cast", "have", or "throw" a shadow if that shadow is caused by the person (either literally, by eclipsing a light source, or figuratively). The shadow may then be described as the shadow "cast" or "thrown" by the person, or as the shadow "of" the person, or simply as the person's shadow.

    Derived terms

    * backshadowing * foreshadowing * rain shadow * shadow acting * shadow boxing * shadow cabinet * shadow government * shadow minister * shadow play * shadow price * sideshadowing * unshadow

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To block light or radio transmission.
  • Looks like that cloud's going to shadow us.
  • (espionage) To secretly or discreetly track or follow another, to keep under surveillance.
  • To accompany a professional during the working day, so as to learn about an occupation one intends to take up.
  • (programming) To make an identifier, usually a variable, inaccessible by declaring another of the same name within the scope of the first.
  • (computing) To apply the shadowing process to (the contents of ROM).
  • Derived terms

    * overshadow

    shape

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The status or condition of something
  • The used bookshop wouldn't offer much due to the poor shape of the book.
  • Condition of personal health, especially muscular health.
  • The vet checked to see what kind of shape the animal was in.
    We exercise to keep in good physical shape .
  • The appearance of something, especially its outline.
  • He cut a square shape out of the cake.
  • A figure with unspecified appearance; especially a geometric figure.
  • What shape shall we use for the cookies? Stars, circles, or diamonds?
  • Form; formation.
  • * 2006 , Berdj Kenadjian, Martin Zakarian, From Darkness to Light :
  • What if God's plans and actions do mold the shape of human events?
  • (iron manufacture) A rolled or hammered piece, such as a bar, beam, angle iron, etc., having a cross section different from merchant bar.
  • (iron manufacture) A piece which has been roughly forged nearly to the form it will receive when completely forged or fitted.
  • A mould for making jelly, blancmange etc., or a piece of such food formed moulded into a particular shape.
  • *1918 , (Rebecca West), The Return of the Soldier , Virago 2014, p. 74:
  • *:‘And if I'm late for supper there's a dish of macaroni cheese you must put in the oven and a tin of tomatoes to eat with it. And there's a little rhubarb and shape .’
  • Hyponyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * contest shape * * in no shape to * * in shape * out of shape * shapeless * shapely * shapesmith * shape-shifter * shape-shifting * shipshape * take shape * the shape of things to come * whip into shape

    See also

    *

    Verb

  • To give something a shape and definition.
  • * 1932 , The American Scholar , page 227, United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa
  • The professor never pretended to the academic prerogative of forcing his students into his own channels of reasoning; he entered into and helped shape the discussion but above all he made his men learn to think for themselves and rely upon their own intellectual judgments.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Revenge of the nerds , passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}
  • To form or manipulate something into a certain shape.
  • * Prior
  • Grace shaped her limbs, and beauty decked her face.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 29, author=Mark Vesty, work=BBC
  • , title= Wigan 2-2 Arsenal , passage=Bendtner's goal-bound shot was well saved by goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi but fell to Arsahvin on the edge of the area and the Russian swivelled, shaped his body and angled a sumptuous volley into the corner. }}
  • (of a country, person, etc) To give influence to.
  • To suit; to be adjusted or conformable.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (obsolete) To imagine; to conceive.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Oft my jealousy / Shapes faults that are not.

    Synonyms

    * (give shape) form, mold

    Derived terms

    * beshape * foreshape * forshape * misshape * overshape * shape up

    Anagrams

    * * * 1000 English basic words