amorphous
Americanadjective
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lacking definite form; having no specific shape; formless.
the amorphous clouds.
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of no particular kind or character; indeterminate; having no pattern or structure; unorganized.
an amorphous style; an amorphous personality.
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Petrography, Mineralogy. occurring in a mass, as without stratification or crystalline structure.
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Chemistry. not crystalline.
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Biology. having structural components that are not clearly differentiated, as the nuclear material in certain bacteria.
adjective
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lacking a definite shape; formless
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of no recognizable character or type
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(of chemicals, rocks, etc) not having a crystalline structure
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Not made of crystals. Glass, amber, and plastics are amorphous substances.
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Lacking definite form or shape.
Other Word Forms
- amorphism noun
- amorphously adverb
- amorphousness noun
Etymology
Origin of amorphous
First recorded in 1725–35, amorphous is from the Greek word ámorphos shapeless. See a- 6, -morph, -ous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some industry insiders have asked whether the OpenClaw-Moltbook phenomenon is evidence of “artificial general intelligence,” an amorphous concept described throughout the history of AI development as a moment when machines achieve humanlike intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026
“Another more amorphous change is the culture…the new Boeing sounds a lot more like what Airbus would call humble, and that is no bad thing.”
From Barron's • Jan. 28, 2026
This amorphous metal is highly unstable and exists only as long as the stationary atoms continue to confine it.
From Science Daily • Dec. 11, 2025
This year there is no title or theme, with curators Essence Harden and Paulina Pobocha relying on the work itself to shine a light on the amorphous nature of the city.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 8, 2025
Either common sense is amorphous and malleable, to the extent that all the beliefs that are shared within a community are compatible with common sense.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
