Adjacent Words

Formal definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FORM'AL, a.
1. According to form; agreeable to established mode; regular; methodical.
2. Strictly ceremonious; precise; exact to affectation; as a man formal in his dress, his gait or deportment.
3. Done in due form, or with solemnity; express; according to regular method; not incidental, sudden or irregular. He gave his formal consent to the treaty.
4. Regular; methodical; as the formal stars.
5. Having the form or appearance without the substance or essence; external; as formal duty; formal worship.
6. Depending on customary forms.
Still in constraint your suffering sex remains, or bound in formal or in real chains.
7. Having the power of making a thing what it is; constituent; essential.
Of letters the material part is breath and voice; the formal is constituted by the motions and figure of the organs of speech.
8. Retaining its proper and essential characteristic; regular; proper.
To make of him a formal man again.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: being in accord with established forms and conventions and requirements (as e.g. of formal dress); "pay one's formal respects"; "formal dress"; "a formal ball"; "the requirement was only formal and often ignored"; "a formal education" [ant: informal]
2: characteristic of or befitting a person in authority; "formal duties"; "an official banquet"
3: (of spoken and written language) adhering to traditional standards of correctness and without casual, contracted, and colloquial forms; "the paper was written in formal English" [ant: informal]
4: represented in simplified or symbolic form [syn: conventional, formal, schematic]
5: logically deductive; "formal proof"
6: refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court; "a courtly gentleman" [syn: courtly, formal, stately] n
1: a lavish dance requiring formal attire [syn: ball, formal]
2: a gown for evening wear [syn: dinner dress, dinner gown, formal, evening gown]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin formalis, from forma Date: 14th century 1. a. belonging to or constituting the form or essence of a thing <formal cause> b. relating to or involving the outward form, structure, relationships, or arrangement of elements rather than content <formal logic> <a formal style of painting> <a formal approach to comparative linguistics> 2. a. following or according with established form, custom, or rule <lacked formal schooling> <a formal dinner party> <formal attire> b. done in due or lawful form <a formal contract> <received formal recognition> 3. a. characterized by punctilious respect for form ; methodical <very formal in all his dealings> b. rigidly ceremonious ; prim 4. having the appearance without the substance <formal Christians who go to church only at Easter> Synonyms: see ceremonial • formally adverb • formalness noun II. noun Date: 1605 something (as a dance or a dress) formal in character III. adjective Etymology: formula + ¹-al Date: circa 1934 molar III

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 used or done or held in accordance with rules, convention, or ceremony (formal dress; a formal occasion). 2 ceremonial; required by convention (a formal call). 3 precise or symmetrical (a formal garden). 4 prim or stiff in manner. 5 perfunctory, having the form without the spirit. 6 valid or correctly so called because of its form; explicit and definite (a formal agreement). 7 in accordance with recognized forms or rules. 8 of or concerned with (outward) form or appearance, esp. as distinct from content or matter. 9 Logic concerned with the form and not the matter of reasoning. 10 Philos. of the essence of a thing; essential not material. --n. US 1 evening dress. 2 an occasion on which evening dress is worn. Derivatives: formally adv. formalness n. Etymology: ME f. L formalis (as FORM)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Methylal Meth"yl*al, n. [Methylene + alcohol.] (Chem.) A light, volatile liquid, H2C(OCH3)2, regarded as a complex ether, and having a pleasant ethereal odor. It is obtained by the partial oxidation of methyl alcohol. Called also formal.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Formal For"mal (f[^o]r"mal), n. [L. formic + alcohol.] (Chem.) See Methylal.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Formal Form"al (f[^o]rm"al), a. [L. formalis: cf. F. formel.] 1. Belonging to the form, shape, frame, external appearance, or organization of a thing. 2. Belonging to the constitution of a thing, as distinguished from the matter composing it; having the power of making a thing what it is; constituent; essential; pertaining to or depending on the forms, so called, of the human intellect. Of [the sounds represented by] letters, the material part is breath and voice; the formal is constituted by the motion and figure of the organs of speech. --Holder. 3. Done in due form, or with solemnity; according to regular method; not incidental, sudden or irregular; express; as, he gave his formal consent. His obscure funeral . . . No noble rite nor formal ostentation. --Shak. 4. Devoted to, or done in accordance with, forms or rules; punctilious; regular; orderly; methodical; of a prescribed form; exact; prim; stiff; ceremonious; as, a man formal in his dress, his gait, his conversation. A cold-looking, formal garden, cut into angles and rhomboids. --W. Irwing. She took off the formal cap that confined her hair. --Hawthorne. 5. Having the form or appearance without the substance or essence; external; as, formal duty; formal worship; formal courtesy, etc. 6. Dependent in form; conventional. Still in constraint your suffering sex remains, Or bound in formal or in real chains. --Pope. 7. Sound; normal. [Obs.] To make of him a formal man again. --Shak. Formal cause. See under Cause. Syn: Precise; punctilious; stiff; starched; affected; ritual; ceremonial; external; outward. Usage: Formal, Ceremonious. When applied to things, these words usually denote a mere accordance with the rules of form or ceremony; as, to make a formal call; to take a ceremonious leave. When applied to a person or his manners, they are used in a bad sense; a person being called formal who shapes himself too much by some pattern or set form, and ceremonious when he lays too much stress on the conventional laws of social intercourse. Formal manners render a man stiff or ridiculous; a ceremonious carriage puts a stop to the ease and freedom of social intercourse.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(formals) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. Formal speech or behaviour is very correct and serious rather than relaxed and friendly, and is used especially in official situations. He wrote a very formal letter of apology to Douglas... Business relationships are necessarily a bit more formal. ? informal ADJ • formally He took her back to Vincent Square in a taxi, saying goodnight formally on the doorstep. ADV: ADV with v • formality Lillith's formality and seriousness amused him. N-UNCOUNT 2. A formal action, statement, or request is an official one. UN officials said a formal request was passed to American authorities... No formal announcement had been made. ? informal ADJ: ADJ n • formally Diplomats haven't formally agreed to Anderson's plan... ADV: ADV with v 3. Formal occasions are special occasions at which people wear smart clothes and behave according to a set of accepted rules. One evening the film company arranged a formal dinner after the play. ? informal ADJ: usu ADJ n • Formal is also a noun. ...a wide array of events, including school formals and speech nights, weddings, and balls. N-COUNT 4. Formal clothes are very smart clothes that are suitable for formal occasions. They wore ordinary ties instead of the more formal high collar and cravat. ? informal, casual ADJ: ADJ n • formally It was really too warm for her to dress so formally. ADV: ADV after v, ADV -ed 5. Formal education or training is given officially, usually in a school, college, or university. Leroy didn't have any formal dance training. ADJ: ADJ n • formally Mr Dawe was the ancient, formally trained head gardener. ADV: ADV -ed 6. see also formality

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Express, explicit, positive, strict, official, in due form, according to established form. 2. Regular, methodical, set, fixed, rigid, stiff. 3. Ceremonious, precise, punctilious, stiff, starch, starched, prim, affectedly exact. 4. Constitutive, essential. 5. External, as mere form, merely formal. 6. (Met.) Organic, formative, primordial, innate, a priori.

Moby Thesaurus

High-Church, Latinate, accepted, acknowledged, adjectival, admitted, adverbial, anatomic, approved, architectonic, architectural, arranged, attributive, authorized, awkward, baccalaureate service, baptismal, being done, bloated, bombastic, businesslike, byname, celebration, ceremonial, ceremonious, ceremony, chivalric, chivalrous, cognominal, comme il faut, commencement, conditional, confining, conformable, conjunctive, constructional, conventional, conventionalized, convocation, copulative, correct, courtly, cramped, cumbrous, customary, de rigueur, decent, decorous, definite, demure, dignified, diminutive, distant, dress uniform, earnest, edificial, elephantine, empty formality, epithetic, established, eucharistic, evening dress, exact, exacting, exercise, exercises, explicit, express, extrinsic, fixed, flatulent, forced, formal dress, formalist, formalistic, formality, formalized, formational, formative, formulaic, formular, formulary, frowning, full dress, function, functional, gallant, gassy, glossematic, graduation, graduation exercises, grammatic, grandiloquent, grave, grim, grim-faced, grim-visaged, guinde, habitual, halting, harmonious, heavy, honorific, hypocoristic, impersonal, in hand, in name only, inaugural, inauguration, inflated, inflexible, initiation, inkhorn, intransitive, knightly, labored, lawful, leaden, legal, legalistic, limited, linking, liturgic, liturgistic, liturgy, long-faced, lumbering, meet, methodical, modal, morphological, morphotic, mummery, nominal, nominative, normal, observance, office, official, old-fashioned, old-world, ordered, orderly, organic, organismal, orthodox, ostensible, outward, participial, paschal, pedantic, performance, plastic, pompous, ponderous, pontifical, postpositional, precise, prepositional, prescribed, pretended, prim, pro forma, professed, pronominal, proper, punctilious, purported, quasi, received, recognized, regalia, regular, religious ceremony, reserved, right, rigid, rite, rite de passage, rite of passage, ritual, ritualistic, routine, sacramental, sacramentarian, sedate, seemly, self-called, self-christened, self-important, self-styled, serious, service, sesquipedalian, set, so-called, sober, sober-minded, sobersided, soi-disant, solemn, solemnity, solemnization, somber, square, staid, standard, starched, stately, steady, stiff, stilted, stone-faced, straight, straight-faced, strait-laced, straitened, strict, structural, stuffy, stylized, substantive, substructural, superficial, superstructural, supposed, surface, swollen, symmetrical, syntactic, systematic, tagmemic, tails, tectonic, textural, thoughtful, titular, traditional, transitive, tumid, turgid, tuxedo, unbending, unchanging, uniform, unsmiling, unwieldy, usual, verbal, weighty, well-ordered, well-regulated, would-be