formal

Meanings

Plural: formals

Noun

• a lavish dance requiring formal attire
• a gown for evening wear
• An evening gown.
• An event with a formal dress code.
• A formal parameter.
• Ellipsis of formal hall.
• Formalin.
• An acetal formed from formaldehyde.

Adjective

• being in accord with established forms and conventions and requirements (as e.g. of formal dress)
  • "pay one's formal respects"
  • "formal dress"
  • "a formal ball"
  • "the requirement was only formal and often ignored"
  • "a formal education"
• (of spoken and written language) adhering to traditional standards of correctness and without casual, contracted, and colloquial forms
  • "the paper was written in formal English"

Adjective Satellite

• characteristic of or befitting a person in authority
  • "formal duties"
• represented in simplified or symbolic form
• logically deductive
  • "formal proof"
• refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court

Adj

• Being in accord with established forms.
• Official.
• Relating to the form or structure of something.
• Relating to formation.
• Ceremonial or traditional.
• Proper, according to strict etiquette; not casual.
• Organized; well-structured and planned.
• In accordance with a methodological framework with well-defined rules or laws; rigorous.
• Relating to mere manipulation and construction of strings of symbols, without regard to their meaning.

Synonyms

ball, conventional, courtly, dinner dress, dinner gown, evening gown, schematic, stately

Antonyms

informal

Related Words

form, hemiformal

Anagrams of formal