• (GA) IPA: /ɪnˈfɔɹm/
• (RP) IPA: /ɪnˈfɔːm/

inform (informs, present participle informing; past and past participle informed)

1. (archaic, transitive) To instruct, train (usually in matters of knowledge).
2. (transitive) To communicate knowledge to.

   • For he would learn their business secretly, / And then inform his master hastily.

   • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene i]:

     I am informed thoroughly of the cause.

3. (intransitive) To impart information or knowledge.
4. To act as an informer; denounce.
5. (transitive) To give form or character to; to inspire (with a given quality); to affect, influence (with a pervading principle, idea etc.).

   His sense of religion informs everything he writes.

   • Let others better mould the running mass / Of metals, and inform the breathing brass.

   • Breath informs this fleeting frame.

6. (obsolete, intransitive) To make known, wisely and/or knowledgeably.
7. (obsolete, transitive) To direct, guide.
8. (archaic, intransitive) To take form; to become visible or manifest; to appear.
   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene i]:

     It is the bloody business which informs / Thus to mine eyes.

• (communicate knowledge to (trans.)) acquaint, apprise, notify; See also Thesaurus:inform
• (act as informer) dob, name names, peach, snitch; See also Thesaurus:rat out
• (take form) materialize, take shape; See also Thesaurus:come into being

• French: informer
• German: informieren, mitteilen
• Portuguese: informar
• Russian: сообща́ть

• French: informer, instruire
• German: informieren
• Portuguese: informar

• French: dénoncer
• German: denunzieren

• French: informer

inform (not comparable)

1. Without regular form; shapeless; ugly; deformed.