| / English Dictionary |
FORMAL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A gown for evening wear
Synonyms:
dinner dress; dinner gown; evening gown; formal
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("formal" is a kind of...):
evening clothes; evening dress; eveningwear; formalwear (attire to wear on formal occasions in the evening)
gown (a woman's dress, usually with a close-fitting bodice and a long flared skirt, often worn on formal occasions)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A lavish dance requiring formal attire
Synonyms:
ball; formal
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("formal" is a kind of...):
dance (a party for social dancing)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "formal"):
cotilion; cotillion (a ball at which young ladies are presented to society)
fancy-dress ball; masked ball; masquerade ball (a ball at which guests wear costumes and masks)
prom; promenade (a formal ball held for a school class toward the end of the academic year)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court
Example:
a courtly gentleman
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
dignified (having or expressing dignity; especially formality or stateliness in bearing or appearance)
Derivation:
formalness (a manner that strictly observes all forms and ceremonies)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Being in accord with established forms and conventions and requirements (as e.g. of formal dress)
Example:
a formal education
Classified under:
Similar:
white-tie (requiring white ties and tailcoats for men)
buckram; starchy; stiff (rigidly formal)
black-tie; semi-formal; semiformal (moderately formal; requiring a dinner jacket)
perfunctory; pro forma (done or produced as a formality only)
positive; prescribed (formally laid down or imposed)
nominal; titular (existing in name only)
dress; full-dress (suitable for formal occasions)
form-only (being a matter of form only; lacking substance)
dress; full-dress ((of an occasion) requiring formal clothes)
ceremonious; conventional (rigidly formal or bound by convention)
ceremonial (marked by pomp or ceremony or formality)
Also:
conventional (following accepted customs and proprieties)
formal ((of spoken and written language) adhering to traditional standards of correctness and without casual, contracted, and colloquial forms)
Attribute:
formality; formalness (a manner that strictly observes all forms and ceremonies)
Antonym:
informal (not formal)
Derivation:
formality (compliance with formal rules)
formalness (a manner that strictly observes all forms and ceremonies)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(of spoken and written language) adhering to traditional standards of correctness and without casual, contracted, and colloquial forms
Example:
the paper was written in formal English
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
literary (appropriate to literature rather than everyday speech or writing)
Also:
formal (being in accord with established forms and conventions and requirements (as e.g. of formal dress))
rhetorical (given to rhetoric, emphasizing style at the expense of thought)
Attribute:
formality; formalness (a manner that strictly observes all forms and ceremonies)
Antonym:
informal (used of spoken and written language)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Logically deductive
Example:
formal proof
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
logical (capable of or reflecting the capability for correct and valid reasoning)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Characteristic of or befitting a person in authority
Example:
an official banquet
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
official (having official authority or sanction)
Derivation:
formality (a requirement of etiquette or custom)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Represented in simplified or symbolic form
Synonyms:
conventional; formal; schematic
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
nonrepresentational (of or relating to a style of art in which objects do not resemble those known in physical nature)
Domain category:
beaux arts; fine arts (the study and creation of visual works of art)
Context examples:
A formal group of people with one or more shared goals.
(Other Agency or Organization, NCI Thesaurus)
They were both very white and cold, formal and unimpassioned in their bearing, but exchanging glances which crossed like rapier blades.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A formal ranking system of the strength of evidence linked to a reported result.
(Level of Evidence, NCI Thesaurus)
A database or other collection of knowledge expressed in a formal knowledge representation language.
(Knowledge Base, NCI Thesaurus)
The formal title of the document.
(Document Version Official Title, NCI Thesaurus)
The branch of psychology concerned with psychological aspects of teaching and the formal learning process in school.
(Educational Psychology, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
The assignments are result of human logic application and are not native to the symbols of the formal language.
(Interpretation, NCI Thesaurus)
It was a curious laugh; distinct, formal, mirthless.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
His idea, for which the novels were responsible, had been that only formal proposals obtained in the upper classes.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
On every formal visit a child ought to be of the party, by way of provision for discourse.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
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