Definition of Formality

For`mal´i`ty
n.1.The condition or quality of being formal, strictly ceremonious, precise, etc.
2.Form without substance.
3.Compliance with formal or conventional rules; ceremony; conventionality.
4.An established order; conventional rule of procedure; usual method; habitual mode.
5.The dress prescribed for any body of men, academical, municipal, or sacerdotal.
6.That which is formal; the formal part.
It unties the inward knot of marriage, . . . while it aims to keep fast the outward formality.
- Milton.
7.The quality which makes a thing what it is; essence.
The formality of the vow lies in the promise made to God.
- Bp. Stillingfleet.
8.(Scholastic. Philos.) The manner in which a thing is conceived or constituted by an act of human thinking; the result of such an act; as, animality and rationality are formalities.


Related Words

Procrustean law, act, baccalaureate service, bienseance, bill, bylaw, canon, celebration, ceremonial, ceremony, circumstance, civility, code, commencement, conformity, convenance, convention, conventional usage, conventionalism, conventionality, convocation, correctness, criterion, custom, decency, decorousness, decorum, decree, demureness, dictate, dictation, duty, earnestness, edict, elegance, empty formality, enactment, etiquette, euphemism, euphuism, exactness, exercise, exercises, exquisiteness, form, form of worship, formal, formalism, formula, formulary, function, good form, goody-goodness, goody-goodyism, graduation, graduation exercises, gravity, grimness, guideline, heraldry, holy rite, inaugural, inauguration, inflexibility, initiation, institution, jus, law, law of nature, legislation, lex, liturgy, long face, maxim, measure, mode of worship, mummery, mystery, norm, norma, observance, office, order of nature, order of worship, ordinance, ordonnance, overniceness, overpreciseness, overrefinement, pedantry, performance, politesse, pomp, practice, preciosity, preciousness, precisianism, precision, prescribed form, prescript, prescription, pride, principle, procedure, propriety, protocol, punctilio, purism, regulation, religious ceremony, rigidity, rite, rite de passage, rite of passage, ritual, ritual observance, rituality, rubric, rule, ruling, sacrament, sacramental, sedateness, seemliness, seriousness, service, set form, sober-mindedness, soberness, sobersidedness, sobersides, sobriety, social convention, social usage, solemnity, solemnization, solemnness, somberness, staidness, standard, standing order, state, statute, stiffness, straight face, strictness, thoughtfulness, universal law, weightiness, wont


Search

Word:

Browse

Forlay
Forleave
Forlend
Forlese
Forlet
Forlie
Forlore
Forlorn
Forlornly
Forlornness
Forlye
Form
form-only
Formal
Formal cause
Formaldehyde
Formalin
Formalism
Formalist
formalities
Formalize
formalized
Formally
formalwear
Format
Formate
Formation
Formative
Forme
Formed
Formed material
Formedon
Formell
Former
Formeret
Formerly
Formful
Formic
Formic acid
Formica
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
© 2008 Interapple, Inc.Cover