Word study

Conform

1 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: conformed, conform. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “conform” or one of its forms.

Compare the Greek words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

Greek words (New Testament)

  • συσχηματίζω syschēmatízōI conform totranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4964Verb  ·  Translated: conformed 1, conform 1

    Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

    1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.

    Full study and all 2 verses →
  • σύμμορφος sýmmorphossimilar, conformed totranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G4832Adjective  ·  Translated: conformed 1, like 1

    Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.

    Full study and all 2 verses →
  • κατά katádown from, against, according to, throughout, duringtranslated this way 1 time of its 381 uses · Strong’s G2596Preposition  ·  Translated: according 65, against 46, in 41, by 38

    Ephesians 2:2 in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

    Full study and all 349 verses →
  • συμμορφόω symmorphóōI bring to the same form with, conformtranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s G4833Verb  ·  Translated: conformed 1

    Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death,

    Full study and its 1 verse →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.