Formal
Formal (fôr"mal) , noun
[Latin formic + alcohol.]
(Chemistry) See Methylal.
Formal (fôrm"al) , adjective
[Latin formalis: compare French formel.]
1.
Belonging to the form, shape, frame, external appearance, or organization of a thing.
2.
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.
Of [the sounds represented by] letters, the material part is breath and voice; the formal is constituted by the motion and figure of the organs of speech.
3.
Done in due form, or with solemnity; according to regular method; not incidental, sudden or irregular; express; as, he gave his formal consent.
His obscure funeral...
No noble rite nor formal ostentation.
4.
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 cold-looking, formal garden, cut into angles and rhomboids.
She took off the formal cap that confined her hair.
5.
Having the form or appearance without the substance or essence; external; as, formal duty; formal worship; formal courtesy, etc.
6.
Dependent in form; conventional.
Still in constraint your suffering sex remains,
Or bound in formal or in real chains.
7.
Sound; normal. [Obsolete]
To make of him a formal man again.
Collocations (1)
Formal cause , See under Cause.