Formalist

//ˈfɔɹml̩ˌɪst// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An overly formal person, especially one who adheres to current forms; a stickler

    "The Besht preached that the simple man, imbued with native faith and able to pray fervently and wholeheartedly with a sense of joy in his heart, was nearer and dearer to God than the learned but joyless formalist spending his whole life in the study of Talmud."

  2. 2
    An advocate of formalism
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to formalism; formalistic

Synonyms

All synonyms
affecteranal characterbabbittbluestockingbourgeoisburgher

Example

More examples

"The Besht preached that the simple man, imbued with native faith and able to pray fervently and wholeheartedly with a sense of joy in his heart, was nearer and dearer to God than the learned but joyless formalist spending his whole life in the study of Talmud."

Etymology

From formal + -ist.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.