'Formality' definitions:
Definition of 'formality'
From: WordNet
noun
A requirement of etiquette or custom; "a mere formality" [syn: formality, formalities]
noun
A manner that strictly observes all forms and ceremonies; "the formality of his voice made the others pay him close attention" [syn: formality, formalness] [ant: informality]
noun
Compliance with formal rules; "courtroom formality"
Definition of 'Formality'
From: GCIDE
- Formality \For*mal"i*ty\, n.; pl. Formalities. [Cf. F. formalit['e].]
- 1. The condition or quality of being formal, strictly ceremonious, precise, etc. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Form without substance. [1913 Webster]
- Such [books] as are mere pieces of formality, so that if you look on them, you look though them. --Fuller. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Compliance with formal or conventional rules; ceremony; conventionality. [1913 Webster]
- Nor was his attendance on divine offices a matter of formality and custom, but of conscience. --Atterbury. [1913 Webster]
- 4. An established order; conventional rule of procedure; usual method; habitual mode. [1913 Webster]
- He was installed with all the usual formalities. --C. Middleton. [1913 Webster]
- 5. pl. The dress prescribed for any body of men, academical, municipal, or sacerdotal. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- The doctors attending her in their formalities as far as Shotover. --Fuller. [1913 Webster]
- 6. That which is formal; the formal part. [1913 Webster]
- It unties the inward knot of marriage, . . . while it aims to keep fast the outward formality. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 7. The quality which makes a thing what it is; essence. [1913 Webster]
- The material part of the evil came from our father upon us, but the formality of it, the sting and the curse, is only by ourselves. --Jer. Taylor. [1913 Webster]
- The formality of the vow lies in the promise made to God. --Bp. Stillingfleet. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'formality'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- 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,
- Procrustean law,
- 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