How to Use conformation in a Sentence

conformation

noun
  • The dogs will be judged on conformation tomorrow.
  • But the three other breeds that are lumped into this category have always been dog show conformation breeds.
    — National Geographic, 3 July 2016
  • Brown’s conformation has a special meaning for Black female judges.
    — Dallas News, 7 Apr. 2022
  • Some of these issues are related to conformation, or body shape; others are linked to inbreeding.
    — Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, 1 Feb. 2018
  • Despite the changes, the show will go on with dogs and handlers competing in events ranging from agility to conformation to obedience.
    — Patrick Connolly, orlandosentinel.com, 7 Dec. 2020
  • Highlights include all-breed conformation show, rare breeds show, obedience and rally trials.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Feb. 2023
  • In the halter and walking fleece shows, the alpacas are brought by their owners to the center ring, where they are judged based on the quality of their fleece and conformation.
    — Tammy Ljungblad, Kansas City Star, 23 Mar. 2024
  • Rosenthal says in the DIY version, that conformation lets the pressure pull the filter tight against the fan.
    — Adam Rogers, Wired, 6 Aug. 2020
  • For most membrane channels, scientists have been limited to studying the structure in one conformation — open or closed.
    — Quanta Magazine, 20 Feb. 2014
  • Lo Presti says this design has several strengths, including the conformation of the sensor to the user’s body.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 16 Nov. 2020
  • In fact, the pores in the cell membrane get so large that the speck conformation of the adapter protein can leave as well, along with other key particles necessary for cell survival.
    — William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 1 July 2022
  • If Farrah and co are correct, then observational conformation of their idea should begin trickling in over the next few months and years.
    — Discover Magazine, 21 Feb. 2023
  • Gus was the son of the regional grand champion in conformation and the nephew of the grand champion in agility; and Gus turned out to be the pick of the litter.
    — Joan Morris, The Mercury News, 15 Feb. 2017
  • Infection is prevented if the receptor-binding domain is locked in the down conformation.
    — William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 18 Apr. 2023
  • Elephants frequently arrange their trunks into a periscope shape, for example, but the meaning of the conformation depends on circumstance.
    — New York Times, 3 June 2021
  • Events include agility, conformation, go-to-ground, obedience, racing, and trailing and locating.
    — Gabrielle Copeland Schoeffield, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 18 July 2019
  • This is just one example of how extreme breed conformation can affect dog welfare and increase the reliance of brachycephalic dogs on human intervention.
    — Kat Eschner, Smithsonian, 1 Feb. 2018
  • During the largest dog show in North America, canines will compete in tests of agility, obedience, dock diving, conformation and more.
    — Patrick Connolly, orlandosentinel.com, 29 Nov. 2021
  • In too many cases, however, C-sections happen because the pets in question possess an exaggerated cranial conformation that makes the birth canal a no-go.
    — Patty Khuly, miamiherald, 1 Mar. 2018
  • For most of the 20th century, breeders focused so exclusively on the Irish setter’s conformation that finding a red dog that could hunt was like finding a leprechaun.
    — Kyle Wintersteen, Field & Stream, 30 Jan. 2023
  • This takes pride of place between the ground and first floors, while a chandelier by Italian glass specialist Venini nods to the stone’s octahedral crystal conformation.
    — Lily Templeton, Footwear News, 19 Jan. 2026
  • Struthoff noted most longhorn breeders now breed the cattle for conformation, color and other longhorn characteristics that typify the most perfect specimen, sort of like dog shows for cattle.
    — René A. Guzman, San Antonio Express-News, 18 Feb. 2021
  • Unlike the conformation — the formal name for the sport of showing purebreds — agility and obedience welcome mixed-breeds, here simply called All American dogs.
    — Jan Hoffman, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2020
  • But this conformation of the spike protein is unstable, so the Australian team introduced a bit of molecular material—the molecular clamp—to hold it in position.
    — Dennis Normile, Science | AAAS, 11 Dec. 2020
  • McLellan specializes in finding just the right conformation of the target viral structures that will allow the human immune system to best recognize and build defenses against them.
    — Maggie Fox, CNN, 1 June 2021
  • Another set of antibodies that uses conformation locking is the camelid nanobodies described in 2021.
    — William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 18 Apr. 2023
  • In many cases, adopting a pedigree dog comes with a contract from the breeder that requires owners to participate in competitive events such as shows for conformation and agility sports to further the dog's family name.
    — Mia Kaplan, NOLA.com, 1 July 2017
  • The researchers’ follow-up experiments showed that tRNAs could persist in a stable conformation outside both cells and exosomes2.
    — Roxanne Khamsi, Scientific American, 17 June 2020
  • Then, a structural comparison of the macrodomain’s chains revealed some differences in the residue conformation lining the ADP-ribose binding pocket.
    — William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 4 June 2021
  • In proteins, one substitution may alter conformation or stability, thereby modifying the impact of a second variant.
    — William A. Haseltine, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'conformation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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