Formation

//fɔːˈmeɪʃən// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of assembling a group or structure. countable, uncountable

    "Some cloud formation was confirmed and rainfall was observed over some islands."

  2. 2
    the act of forming or establishing something wordnet
  3. 3
    Something possessing structure or form. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    the act of fabricating something in a particular shape wordnet
  5. 5
    The process during which something comes into being and gains its characteristics. countable, uncountable
Show 11 more definitions
  1. 6
    creation by mental activity wordnet
  2. 7
    A grouping of military units or smaller formations under a command, such as a brigade, division, wing, etc. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    a particular spatial arrangement wordnet
  4. 9
    A layer of rock of common origin. countable, uncountable

    "Over a broad region, the color of a formation may change."

  5. 10
    an arrangement of people or things acting as a unit wordnet
  6. 11
    An arrangement of moving troops, ships, or aircraft, such as a wedge, line abreast, or echelon. Often "in formation". countable, uncountable
  7. 12
    (geology) the geological features of the earth wordnet
  8. 13
    An arrangement of players designed to facilitate certain plays. countable, uncountable

    "N'Golo Kanté embodies both sides of this, a player whose early scratchiness was soothed with glorious results in the new 3-4-3 formation, allowed simply to be his best, most wonderfully mobile, diligent, destructive self."

  9. 14
    natural process that causes something to form wordnet
  10. 15
    The process of influencing or guiding a person to a deeper understanding of a particular vocation. countable, uncountable
  11. 16
    A structure made of two categories, two functors from the first to the second category, and a transformation from one of the functors to the other. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
constitutionaccumulationacronymacrosticaesthetic formallocation

Example

More examples

"The formation and movement of hurricanes are capricious, even with our present-day technology."

Etymology

From Middle English formacioun, formation, borrowed from Old French formacion, from Latin fōrmātiō, from fōrmō (“form”, verb); see form as verb. Morphologically form + -ation.

Related phrases

A formationChristmas tree formationI formationT formationback formationback-formationformation exposure timeformation lapformation ruleformation waterfree cell formationgust formation time

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