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Formality   /fɔrmˈæləti/   Listen
noun
Formality  n.  (pl. formalities)  
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."
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."
4.
An established order; conventional rule of procedure; usual method; habitual mode. "He was installed with all the usual formalities."
5.
pl. The dress prescribed for any body of men, academical, municipal, or sacerdotal. (Obs.) "The doctors attending her in their formalities as far as Shotover."
6.
That which is formal; the formal part. "It unties the inward knot of marriage,... while it aims to keep fast the outward formality."
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." "The formality of the vow lies in the promise made to God."
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.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Formality" Quotes from Famous Books



... delight and self-complacency the greater part of his fraternity. What object in nature is more pitiable than a London old bachelor, of moderate fortune and moderate parts? whose conversational powers do not secure him invitations to dinners, when stiffness of limb and a growing formality have obliged him to retreat from quadrilles. The rich, we know, thrive everywhere, and at all seasons, safe from neglect, secure from ridicule. I speak of those less strongly fortified against the effects of time; ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Vol. 13, Issue 353, January 24, 1829 • Various

... and conjurors do, explicite and implicite, by compact, band and obligation (a desperate, a fearful case) to satisfy thy lust, or to be revenged of thine enemies, thou didst never pray, come to church, hear, read, or do any divine duties with any devotion, but for formality and fashion's sake, with a kind of reluctance, 'twas troublesome and painful to thee to perform any such thing, praeter voluntatem, against thy will. Thou never mad'st any conscience of lying, swearing, bearing false witness, murder, adultery, bribery, oppression, theft, drunkenness, idolatry, ...
— The Anatomy of Melancholy • Democritus Junior

... been averted; and, in the bedchamber crisis, he knew that he had allowed his judgment to be overruled and his conduct to be swayed by private feelings and the impetuosity of Victoria. But he was not one to suffer too acutely from the pangs of conscience. In spite of the dullness and the formality of the Court, his relationship with the Queen had come to be the dominating interest in his life; to have been deprived of it would have been heartrending; that dread eventuality had been—somehow—avoided; he was installed once more, in a kind of triumph; let him enjoy ...
— Queen Victoria • Lytton Strachey

... flagship lined up at attention. The officers, including the Commander, also waited stiffly at attention while the fisherman tied his panga to the ship's ladder. As Kubayama clambered on board, the officers saluted. With a great show of formality they escorted him to the Commander's quarters, the junior officer following behind at a respectful distance. Two hours later Kubayama was escorted to the ladder again, the trumpet sounded its salute, and the ragged fisherman rowed away—all ...
— Secret Armies - The New Technique of Nazi Warfare • John L. Spivak

... door opened into a large room without the formality of an entry or hall. In one corner of the apartment stood a bed. At one side was a large fireplace, in which half a dozen sticks of green wood were hissing and sizzling in a vain attempt to make the contents of an iron pot, which hung over them, reach the boiling point. No person was ...
— The Soldier Boy; or, Tom Somers in the Army - A Story of the Great Rebellion • Oliver Optic


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