Collins English-English Dictionary

formal ['fɔːməl]

1. 1. adj of, according to, or following established or prescribed forms, conventions, etc

   a formal document

2. 2. adj characterized by observation of conventional forms of ceremony, behaviour, dress, etc

   a formal dinner

3. 3. adj methodical, precise, or stiff

4. 4. adj suitable for occasions organized according to conventional ceremony

   formal dress

5. 5. adj denoting or characterized by idiom, vocabulary, etc, used by educated speakers and writers of a language

6. 6. adj acquired by study in academic institutions

   a formal education

7. 7. adj regular or symmetrical in form

   a formal garden

8. 8. adj of or relating to the appearance, form, etc, of something as distinguished from its substance

9. 9. adj logically deductive

   formal proof

10. 10. adj [philosophy] of or relating to form as opposed to matter or content

11. 11. adj pertaining to the essence or nature of something

    formal cause

12. 12. adj (in the writings of Descartes) pertaining to the correspondence between an image or idea and its object

13. 13. adj being in the formal mode

14. 14. adj denoting a second-person pronoun in some languages used when the addressee is a stranger, social superior, etc

    in French the pronoun ``vous'' is formal, while ``tu'' is informal

15. 15. adj [Etymology] C14: from Latin formalis

formal ['fɔːmæl]

1. 1. n another name for methylal

2. 2. n [Etymology] C19: from form(ic) + -al³