fit

Use the verb "fit" when describing how something conforms to the shape or the size of another thing:

• That blouse doesn’t fit her very well.
• Those pants fit you.
• How do your shoes fit?
• Does this jacket look like it fits?
• I don’t think this fits.
• These two pipes don’t fit together.
• It’s hard to make these two pieces fit.
• This location fits our business very well.

You can also use "fit" as a noun. In this case, the word can be used for many things other than clothing:

• This job is a good fit for me.
• They decided that the location wasn’t a very good fit for their business.

If you use "fit" as an adjective, it means that a person is in good physical condition:

• He’s physically fit.
• She feels fit.
• The soldiers look fit and trim.

He’s not physically fit.

The verb phrase "fit in" is used to describe how people get along with each other within a group:

• She fits in well with the other employees.
• It sounds like you aren’t fitting in very well with the other students in that class.
• It’s difficult to fit in with American society when you first move to the United States, but over time it becomes much easier.

Note: The opposite of "fit" is "unfit." A person who is unfit is incompetent or unstable. Many members of the U.S. Congress and leaders in other countries are saying that the current President of the United States, Donald Trump, is unfit for office. Scary.

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Published on March 1, 2012.

Updated on November 30, 2017