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Build vs Shape - What's the difference?

build | shape | Related terms |

In transitive terms the difference between build and shape

is that build is to establish a basis for (something) while shape is to give something a shape and definition.

build

English

Verb

  • (lb) To form (something) by combining materials or parts.
  • *
  • *:Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.
  • *
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well.}}
  • To develop or give form to (something) according to a plan or process.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
  • , volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you
  • (lb) To increase or strengthen (something) by adding gradually to.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brands built in some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.}}
  • (lb) To establish a basis for (something).
  • (lb) To form by combining materials or parts.
  • (lb) To develop in magnitude or extent.
  • Usage notes

    * The simple past tense and past participle used to be builded; however, that form is now archaic, having been superseded by the form .

    Synonyms

    * (to form by combining materials or parts) construct, erect * (to develop or give form to according to a plan or process) create * (to increase or strengthen by adding gradually to) build up, enlarge, increase, strengthen * (to establish a basis for) base, found, ground

    Antonyms

    * (to form by combining materials or parts) demolish, destroy, ruin, wreck * (to increase or strengthen by adding gradually to) decrease, dissipate, weaken

    Derived terms

    * build a fire under * build castles in the air * build in * build into * build on * build on sand * build-to * build up * build upon * prebuild

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (senseid) The physique of a human body; constitution or structure of a human body.
  • Rugby players are of sturdy build .
  • (computing) any of various versions of a software product as it is being developed for release to users
  • The computer company has introduced a new prototype build to beta testers.
  • (Internet slang) a structure, nominally an abbreviation of building (see usage notes below).
  • I made a build that looked like the Parthenon in that game.

    Usage notes

    * As internet slang, although the word is nominally an abbreviation of "building", the slang term can refer to any structure or formation created by the player e.g. a statue, a pool, or even a forest.

    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