formality
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (3)formalities
- a requirement of etiquette or custom“a mere formality”Synonyms: formalitiesType of ceremony, ceremonial
- a manner that strictly observes all forms and ceremonies“the formality of his voice made the others pay him close attention”Synonyms: formalnessOpposite informalityType of manner, personal mannerKinds stateliness, ceremoniousnessAttribute of formal, informal
- compliance with formal rules“courtroom formality”Type of conformity, conformation
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: Cf. F. formalité.
1. The condition or quality of being formal, strictly ceremonious, precise, etc.
2. Form without substance.
Such [books] as are mere pieces of formality, so that if you look on them, you look though them.— Thomas Fuller
3. Compliance with formal or conventional rules; ceremony; conventionality.
Nor was his attendance on divine offices a matter of formality and custom, but of conscience.— Francis Atterbury
4. An established order; conventional rule of procedure; usual method; habitual mode.
He was installed with all the usual formalities.— Conyers Middleton
5. pl. The dress prescribed for any body of men, academical, municipal, or sacerdotal. obsolete
The doctors attending her in their formalities as far as Shotover.— Thomas Fuller
6. That which is formal; the formal part.
It unties the inward knot of marriage,... while it aims to keep fast the outward formality.— John Milton
7. The quality which makes a thing what it is; essence.
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.— Taylor, Jeremy
The formality of the vow lies in the promise made to God.— Bp. Edward 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.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54