 formal |
||
| 1. | [ adjective ] being in accord with established forms and conventions and requirements (as e.g. of formal dress) | |
| Examples: | "pay one's formal respects" "formal dress" "a formal ball" "the requirement was only formal and often ignored" "a formal education" |
|
| Related terms: | informal ceremonial positive starchy dress semiformal pro_forma form-only full-dress dress white-tie dress black-tie nominal ceremonious conventional formality | |
| 2. | [ adjective ] characteristic of or befitting a person in authority | |
| Examples: | "formal duties" "an official banquet" |
|
| Related terms: | official | |
| 3. | [ adjective ] (of spoken and written language) adhering to traditional standards of correctness and without casual, contracted, and colloquial forms | |
| Examples: | "the paper was written in formal English" |
|
| Related terms: | informal literary rhetorical formality | |
| 4. | [ adjective ] logically deductive | |
| Examples: | "formal proof" |
|
| Related terms: | logical | |
| 5. | [ adjective ] (fine arts) represented in simplified or symbolic form | |
| Synonyms: | schematic conventional | |
| Related terms: | fine_arts nonrepresentational | |
| 6. | [ adjective ] refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court | |
| Synonyms: | elegant stately courtly | |
| Examples: | "a courtly gentleman" |
|
| Related terms: | dignified | |
| Similar spelling: |
formally formalin formalize formality formalism formalise formol formula formless formulate formulary formulaic |
|
