Form is the

shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external Surface (mathematics), surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, Surface texture, texture, or material type. A pl ...

visual appearance The visual appearance of objects is given by the way in which they reflect and transmit light. The color of objects is determined by the parts of the spectrum of (incident white) light that are reflected or transmitted without being absorbed. Ad ...

, or

configuration Configuration or configurations may refer to: Computing * Computer configuration or system configuration * Configuration file, a software file used to configure the initial settings for a computer program * Configurator, also known as choice board ...

of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *

Form (document) A form is a document with spaces (also named ''fields'' or ''placeholders'') in which to write or select, for a series of documents with similar contents. The documents usually have the printed parts in common, except, possibly, for a serial numb ...

, a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data *

Form (education) A form is an educational stage, class, or grouping of pupils in a school. The term is used predominantly in the United Kingdom, although some schools, mostly private, in other countries also use the title. Pupils are usually grouped in forms accor ...

, a class, set, or group of students * Form (religion), an academic term for prescriptions or norms on religious practice *Form, a shallow depression or flattened nest of grass used by a

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

*Form, or rap sheet, slang for a

criminal record A criminal record, police record, or colloquially RAP sheet (Record of Arrests and Prosecutions) is a record of a person's criminal history. The information included in a criminal record and the existence of a criminal record varies between coun ...

People

Andrew Form Andrew Form (born 1969) is an American film producer, best known for producing the films '' Friday the 13th'', ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', and ''The Purge''. He is the co-founder of company Platinum Dunes along with Michael Bay and Brad F ...

, American film producer *

Fluent Form Ryan Stewart, better known by the stage name Fluent Form or, more recently, Flu, is an Australian rapper and hip hop musician. Career Solo career Although Stewart participated in rap battles in his early days, using the experience to gain e ...

, Australian rapper and hip hop musician

Arts, entertainment, and media

* Form (visual art), a three-dimensional geometrical figure; one of the seven elements of art * Poetic form, a set of structural rules and patterns to which a poem may adhere *

Musical form In music, ''form'' refers to the structure of a musical composition or musical improvisation, performance. In his book, ''Worlds of Music'', Jeff Todd Titon suggests that a number of organizational elements may determine the formal structure of a ...

, a generic type of composition or the structure of a particular piece * The Forms (band), an American indie rock band

Computing and technology

Form (computer virus) Form was a boot sector virus isolated in Switzerland in the summer of 1990 which became very common worldwide. The origin of Form is widely listed as Switzerland, but this may be an assumption based on its isolation locale. The only notable chara ...

, the most common computer virus of the 1990s * Form (HTML), a document form used on a web page to, typically, submit user data to a server *

Form (programming) In component-based programming (Visual Basic, .NET WinForms, Gambas, Delphi, Lazarus etc.), a form is a representation of a GUI window. A form contains components and controls typically including "OK" and "Cancel" buttons, these objects provide ...

, a component-based representation of a GUI window *

FORM (symbolic manipulation system) FORM is a symbolic manipulation system. It reads text files containing definitions of mathematical expressions as well as statements that tell it how to manipulate these expressions. Its original author is Jos Vermaseren of Nikhef, the Dutch inst ...

, a program for symbolic computations * Google Forms, cloud-based survey software *

Oracle Forms Oracle Forms is a software product for creating screens that interact with an Oracle database. It has an IDE that includes an object navigator, property sheet, and code editor that uses PL/SQL. It was originally developed to run server-side in c ...

, a Rapid Application Development environment for developing database applications *

Windows Forms Windows Forms (WinForms) is a free and open-source graphical (GUI) class library included as a part of Microsoft .NET, .NET Framework or Mono Framework, providing a platform to write client applications for desktop, laptop, and tablet PCs. While ...

, the graphical API within the Microsoft .NET Framework for access to native Microsoft Windows interface elements * XForms, an XML format for the specification of user interfaces, specifically web forms * Form Energy, an American energy storage startup company. It is focused on utility-scale iron-air batteries.

Martial arts

*''

Kata ''Kata'' is a Japanese word ( 型 or 形) meaning "form". It refers to a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements made to be practised alone. It can also be reviewed within groups and in unison when training. It is practised ...

'' (型 or 形), the detailed pattern of defence-and-attack * Taeguk (Taekwondo) (형), the "forms" used to create a foundation for the teaching of Taekwondo *Taolu (套路), forms used in Chinese martial arts and sport wushu

Mathematics

* Algebraic form (

homogeneous polynomial In mathematics, a homogeneous polynomial, sometimes called quantic in older texts, is a polynomial whose nonzero terms all have the same degree. For example, x^5 + 2 x^3 y^2 + 9 x y^4 is a homogeneous polynomial of degree 5, in two variables; t ...

), which generalises quadratic forms to degrees 3 and more, also known as ''quantics'' or simply ''forms'' *

Bilinear form In mathematics, a bilinear form is a bilinear map on a vector space (the elements of which are called '' vectors'') over a field ''K'' (the elements of which are called ''scalars''). In other words, a bilinear form is a function that is linear i ...

, on a vector space ''V'' over a field ''F'' is a mapping ''V'' × ''V'' → ''F'' that is linear in both arguments *

Differential form In mathematics, differential forms provide a unified approach to define integrands over curves, surfaces, solids, and higher-dimensional manifolds. The modern notion of differential forms was pioneered by Élie Cartan. It has many applications, ...

, a concept from differential topology that combines multilinear forms and smooth functions * First-order reliability method, a semi-probabilistic reliability analysis method devised to evaluate the reliability of a system * Indeterminate form, an algebraic expression that cannot be used to evaluate a limit *

Modular form In mathematics, a modular form is a (complex) analytic function on the upper half-plane satisfying a certain kind of functional equation with respect to the Group action (mathematics), group action of the modular group, and also satisfying a grow ...

, a (complex) analytic function on the upper half plane satisfying a certain kind of functional equation and growth condition * Multilinear form, which generalises bilinear forms to mappings ''V''^''N'' → ''F'' *

Quadratic form In mathematics, a quadratic form is a polynomial with terms all of degree two ("form" is another name for a homogeneous polynomial). For example, :4x^2 + 2xy - 3y^2 is a quadratic form in the variables and . The coefficients usually belong to a ...

, a homogeneous polynomial of degree two in a number of variables

Philosophy

Argument form In logic, logical form of a statement is a precisely-specified semantic version of that statement in a formal system. Informally, the logical form attempts to formalize a possibly ambiguous statement into a statement with a precise, unambiguo ...

, Logical form or Test form - replacing the different words, or sentences, that make up the argument with letters, along the lines of algebra; the letters represent logical variables *

Intelligible form An intelligible form in philosophy refers to a form that can be apprehended by the intellect. According to Ancient and Medieval philosophers, the intelligible forms are the things by which we understand. These are genera and species, insofar as g ...

, a substantial form as it is apprehended by the intellect *

Substantial form Substantial form was an Aristotelian innovation designed to solve three problems. The first is how physical things can exist as certain types of intelligible things, e.g., Rover and Fido are both dogs because they have the same type of immaterial ...

, asserts that ideas organize matter and make it intelligible * Theory of forms, asserts that ideas possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality * Value-form, an approach to understanding the origins of commodity trade and the formation of markets

Science

Form (botany) In botanical nomenclature, a ''form'' (''forma'', plural ''formae'') is one of the "secondary" taxonomic ranks, below that of variety, which in turn is below that of species; it is an infraspecific taxon. If more than three ranks are listed in ...

, a formal taxon at a rank lower than species *

Form (zoology) In zoology, the word "form" or ''forma'' (literally Latin for form) is a strictly informal term that is sometimes used to describe organisms. Under the ''International Code of Zoological Nomenclature'' the term has no standing (it is not accepted). ...

, informal taxa used sometimes in zoology *Form, object of study of

Morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

* "-form", a term used in science to describe large groups, often used in taxonomy *

Isoform A protein isoform, or "protein variant", is a member of a set of highly similar proteins that originate from a single gene or gene family and are the result of genetic differences. While many perform the same or similar biological roles, some isof ...

, several different forms of the same protein

Sports

Form (exercise) :''See Kata for "Form" as used in the context of martial arts.'' Form is a specific way of performing a movement, often a strength training exercise, to avoid injury, prevent cheating Cheating generally describes various actions designed t ...

, a proper way of performing an exercise *

Form (horse racing) ---- In horse racing, the form of a horse is a record of significant events, mainly its performance in previous races. The form may identify the horse's sire, dam and wider pedigree. It is used by tipsters and punters as an aid in the predictio ...

, or racing form, a record of a racehorse's performance *

, a choreographed pattern of martial arts movements made to be practised alone

Other uses

* Form (cigarette), a Finnish cigarette brand * Form, a backless bench formerly used for seating in dining halls, school rooms and courtrooms * Form, the relation a word has to a

lexeme A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken ...

Formwork Formwork is Molding (process), molds into which concrete or similar materials are either precast concrete, precast or cast-in-place concrete, cast-in-place. In the context of concrete construction, the falsework supports the shuttering mold ...

, a mold used for concrete construction