Formal - Definition

adj 1: 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" [ant: informal]
2: characteristic of or befitting a person in authority; "formal
duties"; "an official banquet"
3: (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"
[ant: informal]
4: represented in simplified or symbolic form [syn:
conventional, formal, schematic]
5: logically deductive; "formal proof"
6: refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a
royal court; "a courtly gentleman" [syn: courtly, formal,
stately]
n 1: a lavish dance requiring formal attire [syn: ball,
formal]
2: a gown for evening wear [syn: dinner dress, dinner gown,
formal, evening gown]