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Formal
Definitions
- 1 In accordance with established forms.
"She spoke formal English, without any dialect."
- 2 Official.
"I'd like to make a formal complaint."
- 3 Relating to the form or structure of something.
"Formal linguistics ignores the vocabulary of languages and focuses solely on their grammar."
- 4 Relating to formation.
"The formal stage is a critical part of any child's development."
- 5 Ceremonial or traditional.
"Formal wear must be worn at my wedding!"
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- 6 Proper, according to strict etiquette; not casual.
"He's always very formal, and I wish he'd relax a bit."
- 7 Organized; well-structured and planned.
"When they became a formal club the rowers built a small boathouse."
- 8 In accordance with a methodological framework with well-defined rules or laws; rigorous. especially
"A set of words can be formal cognates only if they can be derived from a common ancestor by regular sound laws."
- 9 Relating to mere manipulation and construction of strings of symbols, without regard to their meaning.
"Formal series are defined without any reference to convergence."
- 1 refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court wordnet
- 2 being in accord with established forms and conventions and requirements (as e.g. of formal dress) wordnet
- 3 (of spoken and written language) adhering to traditional standards of correctness and without casual, contracted, and colloquial forms wordnet
- 4 logically deductive wordnet
- 5 characteristic of or befitting a person in authority wordnet
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- 6 represented in simplified or symbolic form wordnet
- 1 An evening gown. countable, uncountable
"Well, I open up the door / And much to my surprise / The girls were wearin' formals / And the boys were wearin' ties"
- 2 Formalin. uncountable
- 3 a gown for evening wear wordnet
- 4 An event with a formal dress code. countable, uncountable
"Jenny took Sam to her Year 12 formal."
- 5 An acetal formed from formaldehyde. countable, uncountable
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- 6 a lavish dance requiring formal attire wordnet
- 7 A formal parameter. countable, uncountable
- 8 Ellipsis of formal hall. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable
Etymology
From Middle English formel, borrowed from Old French formel, from Latin fōrmālis, from fōrma (“form”); equivalent to form + -al.
From Middle English formel, borrowed from Old French formel, from Latin fōrmālis, from fōrma (“form”); equivalent to form + -al.
See formo-.
See also for "formal"
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