different between conform vs modify

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English modifien, from Middle French modifier, from Latin modificare (“to limit, control, regulate, deponent”), from modificari (“to measure off, set bound to, moderate”), from modus (“measure”) + facere (“to make”); see mode.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?d?fa?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?d?fa?/
• Hyphenation: mod?i?fy

Verb

modify (third-person singular simple present modifies, present participle modifying, simple past and past participle modified)

1. (transitive) To change part of.
2. (intransitive) To be or become modified.
3. (transitive) To set bounds to; to moderate.
4. (grammar, transitive) To qualify the meaning of.
   • 1977, Linda R. Waugh, A Semantic Analysis of Word Order: Position of the Adjective in French

     There is inherently no ordering to the modification and no hierarchy of modification: that is, both adjectives modify the substantive and both apply equally to the substantive...

   • 2016, Allen Ascher, The New Harbrace Guide: Genres for Composing

     Adjectives modify nouns.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• adapt, alter, amend, revamp, rework

Related terms

• modification

Derived terms

• modifier

Translations

References

• modify in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• modify in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• domify