inform
verbadjectivecommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ɪnˈfɔːm//
- United States//ɪnˈfɔɹm//
To communicate knowledge to.
verb
- 1
archaicTo instruct, train (usually in matters of knowledge).
- 2
To communicate knowledge to.
For he would learn their business secretly, / And then inform his master hastily.
I am informed thoroughly of the cause.
- 3
To impart information or knowledge.
- 4
To act as an informer; denounce.
- 5
To give form or character to; to inspire (with a given quality); to affect, influence (with a pervading principle, idea etc.).
His sense of religion informs everything he writes.
But others declare that no Creature can be made or tranſmuted into a better or vvorſe, or transformed into another ſpecies or ſimilitude, by man, or devill. […] Martinus [i.e., Martin] Delrio the Jeſuit accounts this degeneration of Man into a Beaſt to be an illuſion, deceptive and repugnant to Nature; for, the ſoule of man cannot informe a beaſts body, […]
Let others better mould the running mass / Of metals, and inform the breathing brass
O! long as breath informs this fleeting frame / Ne'er let me pass in silence Dorset's name
- 6
obsoleteTo make known, wisely and/or knowledgeably.
- 7
To direct, guide.
Don’t forget the code of ethics that informs this profession.
- 8
archaicTo take form; to become visible or manifest; to appear.
It is the bloody business which informs / Thus to mine eyes.
Etymology
From Middle English informen, enformen, borrowed from Old French enformer, informer (“to train, instruct, inform”), from Latin īnfōrmō (“to shape, form, train, instruct, educate”), from in- (“into”) + fōrma (“form, shape”), equivalent to in- + form.
adjective
- 1
Without regular form; shapeless; ugly; deformed.
Bleak Crags, and naked Hills, And the whole Prospect so inform and rude
Etymology
From Latin īnfōrmis.
Forms
- past tense
- informed
- past participle
- informed
- present participle
- informing
- third person singular
- informs