conformcon‧form /kənˈfɔːm $ -ɔːrm/ ●○○ AWL verb [intransitive] 
Word Origin Examples
the pressure on schoolchildren to conformconform to/with people who do not conform to traditional standards of behaviour2to obey a law, rule etcconform to/with Students can be expelled for refusing to conform to school rules. All new buildings must conform with the regional development plan. products which conform to international safety standards3 conform to a pattern/model/ideal etc to be similar to what people expect or think is usual: Joseph does not conform to the stereotype of a policeman.
Word OriginWORD ORIGINconform
Verb TableOrigin:
1300-1400 Old French conformer, from Latin, from com- ( ➔ COM-) + formare ‘to form’VERB TABLE
conform
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | conform |
| he, she, it | conforms | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | conformed |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have conformed |
| he, she, it | has conformed | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had conformed |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will conform |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have conformed |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am conforming |
| he, she, it | is conforming | |
| you, we, they | are conforming | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was conforming |
| you, we, they | were conforming | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been conforming |
| he, she, it | has been conforming | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been conforming |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be conforming |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been conforming |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- Getting everyone on the team to conform has taken a long time.
- His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, for example, represents an attempt to conform to one of them.
- Indeed, few files seem in practice to conform to this requirement.
- Neither of them conforms to the default format, but they both work.
- Techniques such as object oriented design and structured programming will have to be followed to conform to engineering practice.
- They do not conform well to national polls.
THESAURUS► behave
Collocations to do and say things that are good, bad, normal, strange etc: · His teacher said he’d been behaving badly at school.· I’m not going to talk to her until she starts behaving reasonably.· Oh, be quiet! You’re behaving like a two-year-old.
► act to behave in a particular way, especially in a way that seems unusual, surprising, or annoying to other people: · Tina’s been acting very strangely lately.· What makes grown people act like that?
► treat to behave towards someone or deal with someone in a particular way: · She said that he’d treated her really badly throughout their two-year marriage.· I’m sick of my parents treating me like a child.
► conform to behave in the way that most other people in your group or society behave: · Young people sometimes want to rebel and therefore they refuse to conform.· Society typically brings pressure on individuals and groups to conform to civilised norms.
► conduct yourself formal to behave in a particular way, especially in a situation where people will notice and judge the way you behave: · Public figures have a duty to conduct themselves responsibly, even in their private lives.· By the end of the course, you should be able to conduct yourself with confidence in any meeting.
Longman Language Activatorto obey a law, rule, or custom► obey to do what a law or rule says you must do: · Drivers obey speed laws only when they think the police are near.obey the law: · All citizens must obey the law and be loyal to the Constitution.obey the rules: · She was one of those people who obeyed the rules and was never irresponsible.
► comply with formal if you comply with a law or a decision, you do what it says you must do: · Companies must comply with European employment laws.· Failure to comply with these conditions could result in prosecution.
► abide by to accept and obey a decision, rule, agreement etc, even though you may not agree with it: · Those are the rules and regulations -- we don't make them but we have to abide by them.· Players have to abide by the referee's decision.· Generally, journalists abide by an agreed code of practice.
► keep to to always obey the law or rules closely and not ignore them: · If you keep to the rules nothing can go wrong.· Keep to the law, but apart from that, do whatever you have to do to find this man.· Do you always keep to the speed limit when you're driving?
► stick to the rules informal to do something exactly as it should be done, especially so that there is no chance of anything going wrong: · Everyone in the party has a responsibility to stick to the rules agreed by the party conference.· Failure to stick to the safety rules could result in disaster.
► conform to to be correct according to a rule or regulation: · British meat products now have to conform to strict hygiene regulations.· Many classroom interactions do not conform to the rules of normal conversation.
► observe formal to take notice of and obey rules, laws, customs etc: · You can avoid danger by observing these simple rules.· Too many accidents are occurring at work because employers are not observing safety regulations.· We try to observe the local customs so that we don't offend people.
► respect formal to obey the law or customs of a place, especially because you believe it is important to obey them: · The President is expected to respect the constitution.· He's an honest, responsible citizen who respects the law and is dedicated to his family.
► toe the line to obey the rules and behave in an acceptable way in your job or in an organization, even if you do not want to, do not agree etc: · They didn't agree, but as government employees they had to toe the line.· Gail realized that she had to toe the line if she wanted to keep her job.
► go by the book/do something by the book to do something exactly according to the rules or instructions, rather than in your own way: · Police must always go completely by the book when making arrests.· My financial advisor is very straight - he does everything by the book.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES► comply with/adhere to/conform to a code
Word family formal (=follow one)· All staff must sign and strictly adhere to a Code of Business Ethics.
► conform to/adhere to convention formal (=do what is accepted and normal)· He’d always chosen not to conform to convention.
► comply with/meet/conform to regulations· Hotel kitchens must comply with these regulations.
► fit/conform to a stereotype (=be like the usual idea of something)· He doesn’t fit the stereotype of a Stanford student.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB► to· Those women who do not conform to constructed aesthetic ideals are punished and excluded.· Girls are supposed to be conformist; but what appealing models are there for them to conform to?· And Brotherhood was the only object one was expected to conform to in becoming a member.· Women's power lies in conforming to and consolidating these statuses.
NOUN► expectations· Most of the time, things will indeed conform to our expectations.· Musical notation also did not conform to traditional expectations.· Because certain people do not conform to academic expectations or social abilities of others, this can not place them outside society.
► ideal· Those women who do not conform to constructed aesthetic ideals are punished and excluded.· Banning books which don't conform to that ideal is another.· However, the shy beauty of Freud's young woman does not conform to the glamourous ideals of the age.
► image· It conformed to her image of what a public school should look like.· Conversely, while pupils are expected to conform to certain role images, pupils who exaggerate these are also problematic.
► law· He realises that he does not have to conform to the laws which have been set down by his community.· Kennedy responded that marshals would be removed when state officials kept order and conformed to federal law.· And multinationals must conform to national laws and regulations on additives, flavourings, colourings and artificial low-calorie sweeteners.· The formulation is strange, since it suggests that one can measure a person's ability to conform to the law.
► norm· We have refused to repress our desires, in spite of enormous pressure to conform to heterosexual norms.
► pattern· Quotations conform to the same pattern of assessment and explanation type.· In nearly every way, false open-mindedness conforms to the pattern of a self-defeating organizational behavior.· ONCE again, we had been let down by the refusal of human beings to conform to expected patterns.· When he considered the twelve-foot window spacings, it became clear that individual office sizes would have to conform to this pattern.· Activity has been made to conform to rational pattern.· They must conform to the pattern and standard size laid down by the Post Office.· The Partnership Programmes began to appear in 1978, tending to conform to a standard pattern.· It conformed to this pattern, with plenty of free time and many independent meals.
► pressure· Once such norms have been developed, there are strong pressures on people to conform to them.· As women get higher and higher in powerful corporate ranks, the pressure to conform increases proportionately.· With women especially, there is a great deal of social pressure to conform to a certain physical shape.· And the trouble is that once one person plays the stress card, the pressure to conform is huge.· We have refused to repress our desires, in spite of enormous pressure to conform to heterosexual norms.
► principle· How might the non-fatal offences be reformed soas to conform with the principle of fair labelling?· They are a utility like gas, and they conform to the elemental principles of accountancy.
► requirement· Traherne must have conformed to the religious requirements of the Commonwealth.· Indeed, few files seem in practice to conform to this requirement.· Failure to conform to Commission requirements within 45 days would lead to their compulsory introduction.· A failure to conform to the legal requirements in contracting a marriage will render that marriage void.
► rule· She doesn't conform to the rules of society.· It is so much easier to conform to arbitrary rules imposed by some one else on the basis of age.· Kasparov conforms to the rules when playing P-K4, but that is not why he picks P-K4 from among his legal options.· Furthermore, such modes of discussion are expected to conform also to the rules of professional literacy discourse.
► specification· UIM/X automatically generates C source code based on Motif, conforming to standard specifications for C so that the code is extremely portable.
► standard· Depending on the strength of identification with the reference groups an individual may conform to its standards and norms.· Perhaps being gay, they do not feel obliged to conform to traditional male standards.· Secondary aims included conforming to existing industry standards and defining interfaces to other languages.· Britain should conform to international standards.· Where they conform to any lesser standard they will not provide protection.· This means it can support integrated applications with any system conforming to the standard.· This is an intolerable situation and society has to remove those who will not conform to reasonable standards of behaviour.· Silver of this period should conform to the Britannia standard but does not always do so.
► stereotype· The problem is, however, that real history rarely conforms to later stereotypes.· I don't need to conform to a prevailing stereotype in the search for distinguished and illustrious positions.
VERB► ensure· When such material is used it must be ensured that it conforms approximately in density and shape with the natural beach material.
► expect· And Brotherhood was the only object one was expected to conform to in becoming a member.· Members of the group will come to expect one another to conform to these patterns if they wish to remain members of it.· Furthermore, such modes of discussion are expected to conform also to the rules of professional literacy discourse.
► fail· The chief aesthetic charge against the art works was that their characteristically modernist expressionist distortions failed to conform to a naturalistic realism.
► make· Activity has been made to conform to rational pattern.· Criticism and poetics both constrict the text by making it conform to a meaning or to a model.
► refuse· As is so often the case, however, nature refuses to conform to such a convenient theory.· To refuse to conform is to risk threats to national independence.· Senators who refused to conform to these inherently conservative norms were condemned to ineffectiveness.· He resolutely refused to conform to local customs and made not the slightest effort to understand the people.· She was always the outsider, refusing to conform to traditions, obstinate and impudent.· Illness occurs when these pictures are refused the opportunity to conform with pictures of life as it actually is.· It nevertheless refuses to conform to the narrative conventions of nineteenth-century realism.
WORD FAMILYnounconformityconformistadjectiveconformistverbconform
1to behave in the way that most other people in your group or society behave → conformist: the pressure on schoolchildren to conformconform to/with people who do not conform to traditional standards of behaviour2to obey a law, rule etcconform to/with Students can be expelled for refusing to conform to school rules. All new buildings must conform with the regional development plan. products which conform to international safety standards3 conform to a pattern/model/ideal etc to be similar to what people expect or think is usual: Joseph does not conform to the stereotype of a policeman.