formats

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of format.

   Digital and print formats each carry their own advantages for publishers.

   The committee debated which audio formats the archive should support.

   Note

   The plural earns its keep when kinds are being compared: file formats, audio formats, radio formats ranging from news and sports to talk or a single genre of music. Where the singular names one layout, the plural usually names a choice among types. The same spelling serves as the verb's present-tense form, so in a phrase like "the station formats" only the context shows whether a noun or a verb is meant.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of format.

   The editor formats every manuscript according to the journal's style guide.

   This tool formats raw spreadsheet data into clean tables.

   Note

   A transitive form whose object decides how serious the action is. Someone formats a report or a page, and only its layout changes, perhaps to fit a different kind of page. Someone formats a drive or other storage medium, and it is prepared for first use with everything on it erased. "She formats the drive" therefore carries a warning that "she formats the report" does not.

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