Conforming

How to spell conforming

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce conforming

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does conforming mean?

1. verbActing in accordance with established rules, standards, or expectations.

Conforming in a sentence

• The new building is conforming to current fire safety codes.

• Employees conforming to the dress policy avoid awkward conversations with management.

Where does conforming come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the present participle of the verb conform, which English took from the Old French conformer in the 1300s, itself drawn from the Latin conformare. That Latin verb was built from con-, meaning 'with' or 'together', and formare, 'to shape or form', so the literal idea was 'to shape something to match something else'. The early English sense was very physical, to give one thing the same shape as another, but it soon broadened to the modern idea of acting in line with rules, standards, or expectations. The root formare also sits inside everyday relatives such as 'form', 'reform', and 'transform', all of which share the notion of shape. The spelling trap is the single 'n' and the single 'm': writers sometimes want to double a letter, but conforming keeps one 'n' from con- and one 'm' from form.

How the word is built

• con- (with, together)
• form (shape)
• -ing (present participle suffix)