# formation

Pronunciation: US say "for-MAY-shuhn" /fɔɹˈmeɪʃən/; say "faw-MAY-shuhn" UK /fɔːˈmeɪʃən/, AUS /foːˈmæɪʃən/

## Noun

1. The process by which something comes into being and develops its characteristics.
   - Simple: The way something is made or starts to exist and gets its features.
   - _Sleep plays a key role in the formation of long-term memories._
   - _The formation of the islands took millions of years of volcanic activity._
2. The act of assembling or establishing a group, organization, or structure.
   - Simple: The act of putting people or parts together to make a group or thing.
   - _The formation of the committee was announced at Monday's meeting._
   - _Her law firm handles the formation of small businesses and nonprofits._
3. Anything that possesses a definite structure or form.
   - Simple: A thing that has a clear shape or structure.
   - _A delicate crystal formation hung from the cave's ceiling._
   - _Frost formations covered every window of the cabin by morning._
4. An arrangement maintained by moving troops, ships, or aircraft, such as a wedge, line abreast, or echelon; often used in the phrase "in formation."
   - Simple: A pattern that soldiers, ships, or planes keep while they move together.
   - _The squadron held its formation despite heavy turbulence._
   - _The destroyers steamed in formation toward the narrow strait._
5. An arrangement of a team's players on the field, designed to make certain plays possible.
   - Simple: The way players on a team stand or line up for a play.
   - _The quarterback read the defense and shifted the formation at the line of scrimmage._
   - _Switching to a 4-3-3 formation gave the midfield far more control._
6. A layer of rock whose material shares a common origin.
   - Simple: A large layer of rock that was made in the same way at the same time.
   - _The Morrison Formation has yielded thousands of dinosaur fossils across the American West._
   - _Engineers surveyed the shale formation before drilling the first well._
7. A military body, such as a brigade, division, or wing, that brings together several units or lesser formations under a single command.
   - Simple: A large military group made up of smaller units under one commander.
   - _The armored formation included two tank brigades and a logistics battalion._
   - _Each formation in the exercise reported to a joint headquarters._
8. The guided development of a person toward a deeper grasp of a particular vocation, as in the training of priests.
   - Simple: Training and help that prepare a person for a special job or way of life.
   - _Seminarians undergo years of spiritual and academic formation before ordination._
   - _The hospital views mentorship as central to the formation of compassionate physicians._
9. In category theory, a pair of parallel functors between two categories together with a transformation from one to the other, taken as a single structure.
   - Simple: A structure in advanced math made of two categories, two maps between them, and a way to connect the two maps.
   - _The lemma constructs a formation whose transformation is invertible._
   - _Every formation in the diagram pairs the two categories with parallel functors and a transformation between them._

## Origin

From Middle English formacioun, borrowed from Old French formacion, from Latin fōrmātiō, itself from the verb fōrmō ("to form"). It can be seen as "form" plus the suffix "-ation."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/formation (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).