format

Pluralformats

Formsformats, formatting, formatted

1. 1
   nouncountable

   The way in which something is arranged or presented.

   The conference adopted a new format with shorter talks and longer breaks.

   The game show kept its quiz format but added a new bonus round.

   Similarstructure, arrangement, setup, layout, style

2. 2
   nouncountable

   The arrangement of text and images in a publication or document.

   The newspaper's broadsheet format gives editors more room for large photographs.

   Designers adjusted the layout, choosing a format with wide margins and large type.

   Similarlayout, design, arrangement, style

   Note

   The word began with books: New Latin liber fōrmātus, "a book fashioned," from fōrmō, "I shape," reaching English through French and German. It first meant a book's size and shape. George Haven Putnam uses it that way in Books and Their Makers During the Middle Ages (1896), where older manuscripts are written in "a much larger format" than university copies. Today it covers a page's whole arrangement, from broadsheet to paperback.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To create or adjust the way a document is laid out.

   She formatted the report with clear headings and numbered sections.

   Writers often format their manuscripts to match a publisher's guidelines.

   Similararrange, style, design, structure, organize

   Note

   The verb doubles its final t, giving formatted and formatting. That is unusual, because the stress falls on the first syllable, and English normally keeps a single consonant there (compare targeted). The verb applies to whole documents and to their parts: you format a report, a heading or a table. Like a page's layout, it concerns how text looks, not what it says.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To prepare a storage device such as a disk or drive for first use, erasing any data already on it.

   The technician formatted the failing drive and reinstalled the operating system.

   You should format the memory card in the camera rather than on a computer.

   Similarinitialize, wipe, erase

   Note

   Here the verb turns destructive. Preparing a drive or memory card writes a fresh file system over it, and whatever was stored is lost. That is why it so often appears alongside regret, as when someone loses weeks of work by inadvertently formatting a hard drive. Keep it apart from the layout verb, where formatting a document changes only how it looks.

5. 5
   nouncountable

   A type of computer file that determines how its data is stored and which programs can read it.

   The editor exports drawings in several vector formats.

   Choosing the right file format keeps the document readable on older systems.

   Similartype

   Note

   In computing, the word names the agreed structure for encoding a file's data, which lets conforming software read and write it. Files are saved in a format and converted to one: saved in PDF format, converted to a newer format. Keep it apart from the disk-erasing verb. A file format describes how data is stored, while formatting a drive wipes the data away.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To alter a document so that it fits onto a different type of page.

   He formatted the spreadsheet so it would fit on a single landscape page.

   Editors format long articles to fit the narrow columns of the print edition.

   Similaradjust, adapt, resize, fit

7. 7
   nouncountable

   The type of programming a radio station broadcasts, such as a particular genre of music, news, sports, or talk.

   The owners adopted an all-news format to compete with the local talk station.

   A classic-rock format draws a loyal but aging audience.

   Note

   Radio's term for a station's identity: the kind of programming it commits to, such as Top 40, all-news, talk or classic rock. The genre usually comes first as a modifier and is hyphenated when it is a compound, as in an all-news format or a classic-rock format. Stations adopt, switch or drop a format. A change of format changes what the station is, along with its schedule, its audience and its advertisers.

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