different between accustom vs conform

English

Etymology

From Old French acoustumer, acustumer (Modern French accoutumer) corresponding to a (“to, toward”) + custom. More at custom, costume.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?.?k?s.t?m/

Verb

accustom (third-person singular simple present accustoms, present participle accustoming, simple past and past participle accustomed)

1. (transitive, often passive or reflexive) To make familiar by use; to cause to accept; to habituate, familiarize, or inure. [+ to (object)]
   • ca. 1753, John Hawkesworth et al., Adventurer

     I shall always fear that he who accustoms himself to fraud in little things, wants only opportunity to practice it in greater.

   • “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons?! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To be wont.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Carew to this entry?)

3. (intransitive, obsolete) To cohabit.

Synonyms

• habituate, get used to, inure, exercise, train

Related terms

• custom, customary

Translations

Noun

accustom (plural accustoms)

1. (obsolete) Custom.

References

• accustom in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

English

Etymology

From Middle English conformen, borrowed from Old French conformer, from Latin conform?re (“to mould, to shape after”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k?n?f??m/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /k?n?f??m/
• Rhymes: -??(?)m
• Hyphenation: con?form

Verb

conform (third-person singular simple present conforms, present participle conforming, simple past and past participle conformed)

1. (intransitive, of persons, often followed by to) To act in accordance with expectations; to behave in the manner of others, especially as a result of social pressure.
   • 1839, Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle, ch. 4:

     [B]y conforming to the dress and habits of the Gauchos, he has obtained an unbounded popularity in the country.
2. (intransitive, of things, situations, etc.) To be in accordance with a set of specifications or regulations, or with a policy or guideline.
   • 1919, Hildegard G. Frey, The Camp Fire Girls Do Their Bit, ch. 11:

     In height and breadth it conformed to the prescribed measurements laid down by the rules of the contest.

   • 2006 22 Dec., "Judge Cuts Amount of Vioxx Award ," New York Times (retrieved 7 June 2011):

     A judge in a Texas widow’s lawsuit over the Merck drug Vioxx reduced a $32 million jury award to about $7.75 million on Thursday so that it conformed to state law.

3. (transitive) To make similar in form or nature; to make suitable for a purpose; to adapt.
   • c. 1710, Jonathan Swift, "Vanbrugh's House" in The Poems of Jonathan Swift (1910 edition):

     There is a worm by Phoebus bred,

     By leaves of mulberry is fed,

     Which unprovided where to dwell,

     Conforms itself to weave a cell.

   • 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, ch. 6:

     The sensual man conforms thoughts to things; the poet conforms things to his thoughts.

Synonyms

• (to act in accordance with expectations): acquiesce, comply, go along to get along, knuckle under, submit; see also Thesaurus:conform

Related terms

Translations

References

• “conform”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French conforme.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kon?form/

Preposition

conform (+dative)

1. according to

Related terms

• conforma