formal
Noun pluralformals
Pluralformals
- 1Done according to strict etiquette and proper manners, rather than in a casual or relaxed way.
The reception called for formal attire and careful etiquette.
She addressed the ambassador with formal courtesy.
Similarproper, correct, conventional, dressy, ceremonious
- 2Official in nature, carrying the recognition or authority of an institution or recognized procedure.
The two countries signed a formal agreement to end the dispute.
She made a formal complaint to the store manager.
Similarofficial, authorized, approved
Oppositeinformal, unofficial
- 3Done in accordance with established forms and accepted procedures.
The court requires a formal procedure for filing documents.
Their meetings follow a formal structure laid out in the bylaws.
Similarofficial, prescribed, proper, standard, regular
Oppositeinformal, unofficial, irregular
Note
The sense closest to the word's roots: Middle English formel, through Old French from Latin fōrmālis, built on fōrma, "form". The word is form plus -al. Doing something in the established form applies to language as much as to procedure, so formal English is the standard variety, spoken without dialect. That idea of a fixed, accepted shape runs through the adjective's other uses.
- 4Connected with ceremony or rooted in long-standing tradition.
The coronation included many formal rites passed down for centuries.
Graduates wore robes for the formal procession across the stage.
Similarceremonial, ritual, traditional, solemn, stately
- 5Organized, well-structured, and planned in advance.
The team adopted a formal process for reviewing new ideas.
Workers received formal training before using the machines.
Similarstructured, organized, systematic, methodical, planned
Oppositeinformal, unstructured, haphazard, casual
- 6
- 7Concerning the form or structure of something rather than its content.
The critic focused on the formal qualities of the sculpture, such as line and mass.
Their analysis examined the formal structure of the building.
Similarstructural, stylistic, compositional
- 8Following a strict system of well-defined rules or laws; rigorous.
The paper presents a formal proof of the theorem.
Linguists built a formal model of sentence structure.
Similarrigorous, strict, precise, exact, axiomatic
Oppositeinformal, intuitive, heuristic
Note
Rigor of a particular kind: results must follow from stated rules, not from intuition. Mathematicians accept formal proofs that derive theorems from axioms. Historical linguists call words formal cognates only when regular sound laws connect them to a common ancestor. Keep it apart from the symbols-without-meaning sense. Here meaning still matters, but every step must be licensed by the framework.
- 9A long evening gown worn to dressy or formal occasions.
She chose an elegant blue formal for the gala.
The seamstress altered the formal to fit perfectly.
Note
A clothing noun cut from the adjective, at home in the plural. Shadow Morton's "Sophisticated Boom Boom," sung by The Shangri-Las in 1965, dresses the girls in formals and the boys in neckwear. The noun can name a single gown (a blue formal) or stand more generally for dressy evening wear.
- 10Concerned only with manipulating and arranging strings of symbols according to rules, without regard to their meaning.
A formal language defines which symbol strings are valid without saying what they mean.
The logician treated the calculus as a purely formal exercise.
Note
Meaning is deliberately set aside here, and only the symbols and the rules for arranging them count. A formal series, for instance, is defined without asking whether it converges. It is a string of terms to be manipulated, not a sum to be evaluated. The phrase "purely formal" marks this sense most clearly, signaling that interpretation has been left out on purpose.
- 11Relating to the process by which something is formed.
The geologist described the formal processes that shaped the canyon.
Her thesis traced the formal development of the language over time.
Similarformative, developmental
- 12The named placeholder variable in a function definition that stands for an argument supplied when the function is called.
The compiler matches each formal to the corresponding argument at the call site.
A function's formals are listed inside the parentheses of its definition.
Similarparameter
Note
Programmers clip formal parameter to formal and speak of a function's formals. The term belongs to a pair. The formal is the name written in the definition, and the actual parameter, or argument, is the value supplied at each call. Because a formal is only a placeholder, it can be renamed consistently throughout the definition without changing what the function does.
- 13Ellipsis of formal hall, a formal evening meal at some British universities, chiefly Oxford and Cambridge.
Students hurried to formal before the doors closed.
He skipped formal to finish his essay.
Note
Oxbridge students shorten formal hall to formal, and the clipped noun behaves like the name of a meal. You go to formal, or skip it, without an article. It names a college dinner with a grace, waiting staff and a set menu of several courses, usually held once or twice a week. Outside that university setting, listeners are unlikely to hear the word this way.
- 14A watery solution of formaldehyde used as a preservative and disinfectant; formalin.
The biologist fixed the tissue in formal before slicing it.
A jar of formal kept the frog ready for dissection.
Similarformalin
Note
A separate word that happens to share the spelling. It comes not from Latin fōrma but from the chemical combining form formo-, the family of formaldehyde and formalin. It is uncountable and used like the name of any laboratory liquid: tissue is fixed in formal. Nothing about etiquette or rigor links it to the adjective of established forms.
- 15A chemical compound of the acetal type, formed from formaldehyde.
The reaction yields a formal when formaldehyde combines with two alcohol molecules.
Chemists prepared a cyclic formal from the diol.
Note
Chemistry's countable formal is the second noun from the formaldehyde family, whose separate origin is told under the preservative. Here it names a type of compound: an acetal in which formaldehyde's carbon carries two alcohol-derived groups, R–O–CH₂–O–R. A diol can close that link into a ring, giving a cyclic formal, so the noun takes the usual structural modifiers.
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Origin
From Middle English formel, borrowed from Old French formel, from Latin fōrmālis, which comes from fōrma ("form"); it is equivalent to "form" plus the suffix "-al."