Form vs. Structure — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Form and Structure

Compare with Definitions

Form

The shape and structure of an object

The form of a snowflake.

Structure

A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as biological organisms, minerals and chemicals.

Form

The body or outward appearance of a person or an animal; figure

In the fog we could see two forms standing on the bridge.

Structure

The arrangement of and relations between the parts or elements of something complex

The two sentences have equivalent structures

The company's weakness is the inflexibility of its management structure

Form

A model of the human figure or part of it used for displaying clothes.

Structure

A building or other object constructed from several parts

The station is a magnificent structure and should not be demolished

Form

A mold for the setting of concrete.

Structure

Construct or arrange according to a plan; give a pattern or organization to

Services must be structured so as to avoid pitfalls

Form

The way in which a thing exists, acts, or manifests itself

An element usually found in the form of a gas.

Structure

Something made up of a number of parts that are held or put together in a particular way

Hierarchical social structure.

Form

(Philosophy) The essential or ideal nature of something, especially as distinguished from its matter or material being.

Structure

The way in which parts are arranged or put together to form a whole; makeup

Triangular in structure.

Form

A kind, type, or variety

A cat is a form of mammal.

Structure

The interrelation or arrangement of parts in a complex entity

Political structure.

Plot structure.

Form

(Botany) A subdivision of a variety usually differing in one trivial characteristic, such as flower color.

Structure

Something constructed, such as a building.

Form

Method of arrangement or manner of coordinating elements in verbal or musical composition

Presented my ideas in outline form.

A treatise in the form of a dialogue.

Structure

The arrangement or formation of the tissues, organs, or other parts of an organism.

Form

A particular type or example of such arrangement

The essay is a literary form.

Structure

An organ or other part of an organism.

Form

Procedure as determined or governed by regulation or custom

Gave his consent solely as a matter of form.

Structure

To give form or arrangement to

Structure a curriculum.

Structure one's day.

Form

Manners or conduct as governed by etiquette, decorum, or custom

Arriving late to a wedding is considered bad form.

Structure

A cohesive whole built up of distinct parts.

The birds had built an amazing structure out of sticks and various discarded items.

Form

A fixed order of words or procedures, as for use in a ceremony

"As they had never had a funeral aboard a ship, they began rehearsing the forms so as to be ready" (Arthur Conan Doyle).

Structure

The underlying shape of a solid.

He studied the structure of her face.

Form

A document with blanks for the insertion of details or information

Insurance forms.

Structure

The overall form or organization of something.

The structure of a sentence.

The structure of the society was still a mystery.

Form

Performance considered with regard to acknowledged criteria

A musician at the top of her form.

Structure

A set of rules defining behaviour.

For some, the structure of school life was oppressive.

Form

A pattern of behavior or performance

Remained true to form and showed up late.

Structure

(computing) Several pieces of data treated as a unit.

This structure contains both date and timezone information.

Form

Fitness, as of an athlete or animal, with regard to health or training

A dog in excellent form.

Structure

Underwater terrain or objects (such as a dead tree or a submerged car) that tend to attract fish

There's lots of structure to be fished along the west shore of the lake; the impoundment submerged a town there when it was built.

Form

A racing form.

Structure

A body, such as a political party, with a cohesive purpose or outlook.

The South African leader went off to consult with the structures.

Form

A grade in a British secondary school or in some American private schools

The sixth form.

Structure

(logic) A set along with a collection of finitary functions and relations.

Form

A linguistic form.

Structure

(transitive) To give structure to; to arrange.

I'm trying to structure my time better so I'm not always late.

I've structured the deal to limit the amount of money we can lose.

Form

The external aspect of words with regard to their inflections, pronunciation, or spelling.

Structure

The act of building; the practice of erecting buildings; construction.

His son builds on, and never is contentTill the last farthing is in structure spent.

Form

Chiefly British A long seat; a bench.

Structure

Manner of building; form; make; construction.

Want of insight into the structure and constitution of the terraqueous globe.

Form

The lair or resting place of a hare.

Structure

Arrangement of parts, of organs, or of constituent particles, in a substance or body; as, the structure of a rock or a mineral; the structure of a sentence.

It [basalt] has often a prismatic structure.

Form

To give form to; shape

Form clay into figures.

Structure

Manner of organization; the arrangement of the different tissues or parts of animal and vegetable organisms; as, organic structure, or the structure of animals and plants; cellular structure.

Form

To make or fashion by shaping

Form figures out of clay.

Structure

That which is built; a building; esp., a building of some size or magnificence; an edifice.

There stands a structure of majestic frame.

Form

To develop in the mind; conceive

Her reading led her to form a different opinion.

Structure

A thing constructed; a complex construction or entity;

The structure consisted of a series of arches

She wore her hair in an amazing construction of whirls and ribbons

Form

To arrange oneself in

Holding out his arms, the cheerleader formed a T. The acrobats formed a pyramid.

Structure

The manner of construction of something and the arrangement of its parts;

Artists must study the structure of the human body

The structure of the benzene molecule

Form

To organize or arrange

The environmentalists formed their own party.

Structure

The complex composition of knowledge as elements and their combinations;

His lectures have no structure

Form

To fashion, train, or develop by instruction, discipline, or precept

Formed the recruits into excellent soldiers.

Structure

A particular complex anatomical structure;

He has good bone structure

Form

To come to have; develop or acquire

He formed the habit of walking to work.

Structure

The people in a society considered as a system organized by a characteristic pattern of relationships;

The social organization of England and America is very different

Sociologists have studied the changing structure of the family

Form

To enter into (a relationship)

They formed a friendship.

Structure

Give a structure to;

I need to structure my days

Form

To constitute or compose, especially out of separate elements

The bones that form the skeleton.

Form

To produce (a tense, for example) by inflection

Form the pluperfect.

Form

To make (a word) by derivation or composition.

Form

To become formed or shaped

Add enough milk so the dough forms easily into balls.

Form

To come into being by taking form; arise

Clouds will form in the afternoon.

Form

To assume a specified form, shape, or pattern

The soldiers formed into a column.

Form

To do with shape.

Form

The shape or visible structure of a thing or person.

Form

A thing that gives shape to other things as in a mold.

Form

Regularity, beauty, or elegance.

Form

(philosophy) The inherent nature of an object; that which the mind itself contributes as the condition of knowing; that in which the essence of a thing consists.

Form

Characteristics not involving atomic components. en

Form

(dated) A long bench with no back.

Form

(fine arts) The boundary line of a material object. In painting, more generally, the human body.

Form

(crystallography) The combination of planes included under a general crystallographic symbol. It is not necessarily a closed solid.

Form

(social) To do with structure or procedure.

Form

An order of doing things, as in religious ritual.

Form

Established method of expression or practice; fixed way of proceeding; conventional or stated scheme; formula.

Form

Constitution; mode of construction, organization, etc.; system.

A republican form of government

Form

Show without substance; empty, outside appearance; vain, trivial, or conventional ceremony; conventionality; formality.

A matter of mere form

Form

(archaic) A class or rank in society.

Form

(UK) A criminal record; loosely, past history (in a given area).

Form

Level of performance.

The team's form has been poor this year.

The orchestra was on top form this evening.

Form

A class or year of school pupils (often preceded by an ordinal number to specify the year, as in sixth form).

Form

A blank document or template to be filled in by the user.

To apply for the position, complete the application form.

Form

A specimen document to be copied or imitated.

Form

(grammar) A grouping of words which maintain grammatical context in different usages; the particular shape or structure of a word or part of speech.

Participial forms;

Verb forms

Form

The den or home of a hare.

Form

A window or dialogue box.

Form

Essentials

Form

(taxonomy) An infraspecific rank.

Form

The type or other matter from which an impression is to be taken, arranged and secured in a chase.

Form

(geometry) A quantic.

Form

A specific way of performing a movement.

Form

(transitive) To assume (a certain shape or visible structure).

When you kids form a straight line I'll hand out the lollies.

Form

(transitive) To give (a shape or visible structure) to a thing or person.

Roll out the dough to form a thin sheet.

Form

(intransitive) To take shape.

When icicles start to form on the eaves you know the roads will be icy.

Form

To put together or bring into being; assemble.

The socialists did not have enough MPs to form a government.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon formed The Beatles in Liverpool in 1960.

Form

To create (a word) by inflection or derivation.

By adding "-ness", you can form a noun from an adjective.

Form

(transitive) To constitute, to compose, to make up.

Teenagers form the bulk of extreme traffic offenders.

Form

To mould or model by instruction or discipline.

Singing in a choir helps to form a child's sociality.

Form

To provide (a hare) with a form.

Form

To treat (plates) to prepare them for introduction into a storage battery, causing one plate to be composed more or less of spongy lead, and the other of lead peroxide. This was formerly done by repeated slow alternations of the charging current, but later the plates or grids were coated or filled, one with a paste of red lead and the other with litharge, introduced into the cell, and formed by a direct charging current.

Form

The shape and structure of anything, as distinguished from the material of which it is composed; particular disposition or arrangement of matter, giving it individuality or distinctive character; configuration; figure; external appearance.

The form of his visage was changed.

And woven close close, both matter, form, and style.

Form

Constitution; mode of construction, organization, etc.; system; as, a republican form of government.

Form

Established method of expression or practice; fixed way of proceeding; conventional or stated scheme; formula; as, a form of prayer.

Those whom form of lawsCondemned to die.

Form

Show without substance; empty, outside appearance; vain, trivial, or conventional ceremony; conventionality; formality; as, a matter of mere form.

Though well we may not pass upon his lifeWithout the form of justice.

Form

Orderly arrangement; shapeliness; also, comeliness; elegance; beauty.

The earth was without form and void.

He hath no form nor comeliness.

Form

A shape; an image; a phantom.

Form

That by which shape is given or determined; mold; pattern; model.

Form

A long seat; a bench; hence, a rank of students in a school; a class; also, a class or rank in society.

Form

The seat or bed of a hare.

As in a form sitteth a weary hare.

Form

The type or other matter from which an impression is to be taken, arranged and secured in a chase.

Form

The boundary line of a material object. In (painting), more generally, the human body.

Form

The particular shape or structure of a word or part of speech; as, participial forms; verbal forms.

Form

The combination of planes included under a general crystallographic symbol. It is not necessarily a closed solid.

Form

That assemblage or disposition of qualities which makes a conception, or that internal constitution which makes an existing thing to be what it is; - called essential or substantial form, and contradistinguished from matter; hence, active or formative nature; law of being or activity; subjectively viewed, an idea; objectively, a law.

Form

Mode of acting or manifestation to the senses, or the intellect; as, water assumes the form of ice or snow. In modern usage, the elements of a conception furnished by the mind's own activity, as contrasted with its object or condition, which is called the matter; subjectively, a mode of apprehension or belief conceived as dependent on the constitution of the mind; objectively, universal and necessary accompaniments or elements of every object known or thought of.

Form

The peculiar characteristics of an organism as a type of others; also, the structure of the parts of an animal or plant.

Form

To give form or shape to; to frame; to construct; to make; to fashion.

God formed man of the dust of the ground.

The thought that labors in my forming brain.

Form

To give a particular shape to; to shape, mold, or fashion into a certain state or condition; to arrange; to adjust; also, to model by instruction and discipline; to mold by influence, etc.; to train.

'T is education forms the common mind.

Thus formed for speed, he challenges the wind.

Form

To go to make up; to act as constituent of; to be the essential or constitutive elements of; to answer for; to make the shape of; - said of that out of which anything is formed or constituted, in whole or in part.

The diplomatic politicians . . . who formed by far the majority.

Form

To derive by grammatical rules, as by adding the proper suffixes and affixes.

Form

To treat (plates) so as to bring them to fit condition for introduction into a storage battery, causing one plate to be composed more or less of spongy lead, and the other of lead peroxide. This was formerly done by repeated slow alternations of the charging current, but now the plates or grids are coated or filled, one with a paste of red lead and the other with litharge, introduced into the cell, and formed by a direct charging current.

Form

To take a form, definite shape, or arrangement; as, the infantry should form in column.

Form

To run to a form, as a hare.

Form

The phonological or orthographic sound or appearance of a word that can be used to describe or identify something;

The inflected forms of a word can be represented by a stem and a list of inflections to be attached

Form

A category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality;

Sculpture is a form of art

What kinds of desserts are there?

Form

A perceptual structure;

The composition presents problems for students of musical form

A visual pattern must include not only objects but the spaces between them

Form

Any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline);

He could barely make out their shapes through the smoke

Form

Alternative names for the body of a human being;

Leonardo studied the human body

He has a strong physique

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

Form

The spatial arrangement of something as distinct from its substance;

Geometry is the mathematical science of shape

Form

The visual appearance of something or someone;

The delicate cast of his features

Form

(physical chemistry) a distinct state of matter in a system; matter that is identical in chemical composition and physical state and separated from other material by the phase boundary;

The reaction occurs in the liquid phase of the system

Form

A printed document with spaces in which to write;

He filled out his tax form

Form

(biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups;

A new strain of microorganisms

Form

An arrangement of the elements in a composition or discourse;

The essay was in the form of a dialogue

He first sketches the plot in outline form

Form

A particular mode in which something is manifested;

His resentment took the form of extreme hostility

Form

A body of students who are taught together;

Early morning classes are always sleepy

Form

An ability to perform well;

He was at the top of his form

The team was off form last night

Form

A life-size dummy used to display clothes

Form

A mold for setting concrete;

They built elaborate forms for pouring the foundation

Form

To compose or represent:

This wall forms the background of the stage setting

The branches made a roof

This makes a fine introduction

Form

Create (as an entity);

Social groups form everywhere

They formed a company

Form

Develop into a distinctive entity;

Our plans began to take shape

Form

Give a shape or form to;

Shape the dough

Form

Make something, usually for a specific function;

She molded the riceballs carefully

Form cylinders from the dough

Shape a figure

Work the metal into a sword

Form

Establish or impress firmly in the mind;

We imprint our ideas onto our children

Form

Give shape to;

Form the clay into a head

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