Formal
['fɔːm(ə)l] or ['fɔrml]
Definition
(adj.) being in accord with established forms and conventions and requirements (as e.g. of formal dress); 'pay one's formal respects'; 'formal dress'; 'a formal ball'; 'the requirement was only formal and often ignored'; 'a formal education' .
(adj.) (of spoken and written language) adhering to traditional standards of correctness and without casual, contracted, and colloquial forms; 'the paper was written in formal English' .
(adj.) logically deductive; 'formal proof' .
(adj.) characteristic of or befitting a person in authority; 'formal duties'; 'an official banquet' .
Inputed by Jeff--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) See Methylal.
(a.) Belonging to the form, shape, frame, external appearance, or organization of a thing.
(a.) Belonging to the constitution of a thing, as distinguished from the matter composing it; having the power of making a thing what it is; constituent; essential; pertaining to or depending on the forms, so called, of the human intellect.
(a.) Done in due form, or with solemnity; according to regular method; not incidental, sudden or irregular; express; as, he gave his formal consent.
(a.) Devoted to, or done in accordance with, forms or rules; punctilious; regular; orderly; methodical; of a prescribed form; exact; prim; stiff; ceremonious; as, a man formal in his dress, his gait, his conversation.
(a.) Having the form or appearance without the substance or essence; external; as, formal duty; formal worship; formal courtesy, etc.
(a.) Dependent in form; conventional.
(a.) Sound; normal.
Typist: Portia
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Express, explicit, positive, in due form, according to established form.[2]. Regular, methodical.[3]. Ceremonious, precise, punctilious, stiff, starch, starched, prim, affectedly exact.[4]. Constitutive, essential.[5]. External, as mere form.
Edited by Flo
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Regular, complete, shapely, sufficient, correct, stately, dignified,ceremonious, pompous, stiff, precise, explicit, exact, affected, methodical
ANT:Irregular, incomplete, informal, inadequate, incorrect, easy, unassuming,unceremonious
Editor: Vanessa
Examples
- But after the building of the temple and the organization of the priesthood, the prophetic type remains over and outside the formal religious scheme. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The other clauses contained in that document were of a formal kind, and need not be recited here. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Aunt March likes to have us pay her the compliment of coming in style, and making a formal call. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Only very slowly did the human mind develop methods of indicating action and relationship in a formal manner. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The first letters he read were very formal, very carefully written and dealt almost entirely with local happenings. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Its banks were neither formal nor falsely adorned. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- Manners would have been producing the bottle and having a formal drink. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- She hated calls of the formal sort, and never made any till Amy compelled her with a bargain, bribe, or promise. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Then sighed; and saying, 'I knew you would like it,' he turned away, and never spoke to her again until he bid her a formal 'good night. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- Though not a garrulous race, the Tharks are extremely formal, and their ways lend themselves amazingly to dignified and courtly manners. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- I have the honour to be, GEORGE A little formal, observes the elder brother, refolding it with a puzzled face. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Voting is a formal method of registering consent. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- It makes instruction and learning formal, mechanical, constrained. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- But permit me to say, my dear Doctor, that this objection is rather formal than substantial. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- We shall be sitting down to eat in a minute, and it's a formal occasion, darling, isn't it? D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
Inputed by Edna