F — Forisfamiliation to Formality (Part 6 of 7)

6. Dependent in form; conventional.

Still in constraint your suffering sex remains,
Or bound in formal or in real chains.

7. Sound; normal. [Obs.]

To make of him a formal man again.

Formal cause. See under Cause.

Syn. — Precise; punctilious; stiff; starched; affected; ritual; ceremonial; external; outward. — Formal, Ceremonious. When applied to things, these words usually denote a mere accordance with the rules of form or ceremony; as, to make a formal call; to take a ceremonious leave. When applied to a person or his manners, they are used in a bad sense; a person being called formal who shapes himself too much by some pattern or set form, and ceremonious when he lays too much stress on the conventional laws of social intercourse. Formal manners render a man stiff or ridiculous; a ceremonious carriage puts a stop to the ease and freedom of social intercourse.

Formaldehyde
(For*mal"de*hyde) n. [Formic + aldehyde.] (Chem.) A colorless, volatile liquid, H₂CO, resembling acetic or ethyl aldehyde, and chemically intermediate between methyl alcohol and formic acid.

Formalism
(Form"al*ism) n. The practice or the doctrine of strict adherence to, or dependence on, external forms, esp. in matters of religion.

Official formalism.

Formalist
(Form"al*ist), n. [Cf. F. formaliste.] One overattentive to forms, or too much confined to them; esp., one who rests in external religious forms, or observes strictly the outward forms of worship, without possessing the life and spirit of religion.

As far a formalist from wisdom sits,
In judging eyes, as libertines from wits.

Formality
(For*mal"i*ty) n.; pl. Formalities [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.

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.