formless

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form·less

(fôrm′lĭs)

adj.

1. Having no definite form; shapeless: a formless unicellular organism.

2. Lacking order: formless activity.

3. Having no material existence: a formless void.

form′less·ly adv.

form′less·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

formless

(ˈfɔːmlɪs)

adj

without a definite shape or form; amorphous

ˈformlessly adv

ˈformlessness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

form•less

(ˈfɔrm lɪs)

adj.

lacking a definite or regular form or shape; shapeless.

[1585–95]

form′less•ly, adv.

form′less•ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.	1.	formless - having no definite form or distinct shape; "amorphous clouds of insects"; "an aggregate of formless particles"; "a shapeless mass of protoplasm" amorphous, shapeless unformed - not having form or shape; "unformed clay"
	2.	formless - having no physical form; "belief in a world filled with...formless but often malevolent beings" unbodied - having no body

formless

adjective shapeless, amorphous, nebulous, unformed, vague, indefinite, incoherent, disorganized, inchoate Large formless images rushed across the screen.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

formless

adjective

Having no distinct shape:

amorphous, inchoate, shapeless, unformed, unshaped.

Translations

informe

formless

[ˈfɔːmlɪs] ADJ → informe

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

formless

[ˈfɔːmlɪs] adj (shape) → informe; (feelings) → nebuloso/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

References in classic literature ?

Mimes, in the form of God on high, Mutter and mumble low, And hither and thither fly - Mere puppets they, who come and go At bidding of vast formless things That shift the scenery to and fro, Flapping from out their Condor wings Invisible Wo !

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And yet sometimes one gets a hint of what the last scene may be like in the life of a ship and her crew, which resembles a drama in its struggle against a great force bearing it up, formless, ungraspable, chaotic and mysterious, as fate.

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Therefore, the tormented spirit that glared out of bodily eyes, when what seemed Ahab rushed from his room, was for the time but a vacated thing, a formless somnambulistic being, a ray of living light, to be sure, but without an object to color, and therefore a blankness in itself.

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Then does everything become more mysterious, the sky frowns with clouds, yellow leaves strew the paths at the edge of the naked forest, and the forest itself turns black and blue--more especially at eventide when damp fog is spreading and the trees glimmer in the depths like giants, like formless, weird phantoms.

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A colossal and formless something was rushing across the field of his vision.

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before the Sun, Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice Of God, as with a Mantle didst invest The rising world of waters dark and deep, Won from the void and formless infinite.

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The people at the castle could not tell within half a genera- tion the length of time the man had been shut up there for his unrecorded and forgotten offense; but this old wife knew; and so did her old child, who stood there among her married sons and daughters trying to realize a father who had been to her a name, a thought, a formless image, a tradition, all her life, and now was suddenly concreted into actual flesh and blood and set before her face.

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They were as formless as the sweet languid odours of the garden at the Chase, which had floated past her as she walked by the gate.

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In his place was his father- Prince Andrew- and his father had neither shape nor form, but he existed, and when little Nicholas perceived him he grew faint with love: he felt himself powerless, limp, and formless. His father caressed and pitied him.

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In the streets of the city she noted for the first time the architecture of hurry, and heard the language of hurry on the mouths of its inhabitants--clipped words, formless sentences, potted expressions of approval or disgust.

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The subtile, intuitive communication, or, rather, the vague and formless impression of something to be told, had made her yield unresistingly to his impulse.

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And then my mind made its first earnest effort to comprehend what had been infused into it concerning heaven and hell; and for the first time it recoiled, baffled; and for the first time glancing behind, on each side, and before it, it saw all round an unfathomed gulf: it felt the one point where it stood--the present; all the rest was formless cloud and vacant depth; and it shuddered at the thought of tottering, and plunging amid that chaos.