Meaning of formal in English

formal

adjective

/ˈfɔː.məl/ us

/ˈfɔːr.məl/

formal adjective (OFFICIAL)

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public or official:

formal procedures

a formal announcement

in appearance or by name only:

I am the formal leader of the project but the everyday management is in the hands of my assistant.

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They wanted to make a formal complaint about their doctor.
The US lodged a formal protest against the arrest of the foreign reporters.
My client accepts the formal apology without prejudice to any further legal action she may decide to take.
A formal protest was made by the German team about their disqualification from the relay final.
Most modern kings and queens rule their countries only in a formal way, without real power.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Accepting & agreeing

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Seeming and purporting to be

formal adjective (SERIOUS)

Formal language, clothes, and behaviour are suitable for serious or official occasions:

a formal dinner party

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Is it considered improper to wear such a short skirt to a formal occasion?
It's incorrect to address people by their first names at these formal events.
His casual behaviour was wholly inappropriate for such a formal occasion.
He writes in a formal and rather stilted style.
My clothes for work tend to be quite formal.

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Manners & levels of formality

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formal adjective (EDUCATION)

Formal education or training is received in a school or college:

She has no college degree and no formal training in child development.

It was thought that three or four years of formal schooling were enough to teach the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic to the mass of people.

There seems to be an idea that the longer you spend in formal, academic education the more you are worth.

See also

formal education

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Types of education

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formal adjective (GARDEN)

A formal garden is carefully designed and kept according to a plan, and it is not allowed to grow naturally.

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Gardens & yards

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Grammar

Formal and informal language

We use formal language in situations that are serious or that involve people we don’t know well. Informal language is more commonly used in situations that are more relaxed and involve people we know well. …

We use the term ‘register’ to refer to particular varieties or styles of speaking and writing. Registers vary because the language is used for different purposes, in different contexts and for different audiences. For example, there is a legal register, a register of advertising, registers of banking and a register of weather forecasting. We commonly recognise registers because of their specialised vocabulary but also because of particular uses of grammar. We also use the term register to refer to whether language is being used formally or informally: …

formal

noun [ C ]

/ˈfɔː.məl/ us

/ˈfɔːr.məl/

a dance at which women wear fashionable, expensive dresses and men wear tuxedos or similar clothes

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Celebrations, parties & special occasions

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(Definition of formal from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

formal | American Dictionary

formal

adjective

/ˈfɔr·məl/

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using an agreed and often official or traditional way of doing things:

There are formal procedures for applying to become a US citizen.

If a social occasion is formal, you wear traditional or very good clothes:

It was a formal affair, and men were supposed to wear dark suits or tuxedos.

Formal language is the language used esp. in writing in situations that are official and which is often more difficult than the language used in ordinary conversation.

Formal education/training is the learning of a subject or skill from courses in a school:

His formal education ended at the sixth grade, but he became a millionaire at the age of thirty.

formal

noun [ C ]

/ˈfɔr·məl/

a dance at which women wear fashionable, expensive dresses and men wear tuxedos or similar clothes

(Definition of formal from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

formal | Business English

formal

adjective

/ˈfɔːməl/ us

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stated or agreed in writing:

a formal agreement/contract/offer They are required to make a binding formal offer and then publish an offer document within 28 days.

done publicly or officially:

a formal announcement/discussion/investigation The two companies began formal discussions to renegotiate the $2.8 billion power project.

used to describe clothing that is suitable for important or official occasions:

Please note that formal dress is not required at the dinner.

used to describe education or training that is received in a school or college:

Lacking formal education, he worked as a sharecropper and journeyman laborer to support his family.

ECONOMICS

used to describe businesses that are officially recognized, pay taxes, etc.:

In Mexico small and medium-sized enterprises generate six out of ten jobs in the formal sector.

formally

adverb

The bid for the company could be formally accepted early next week.

(Definition of formal from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of formal

formal

The relationship between formal and informal rules cannot therefore be determined on a priori grounds.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Any property that holds at this point is potentially relevant to the formal definition of purity.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Then our goal is now to get a formal description of the term q*.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We interpret now the formal equivalence of kinds and types as the equality in the model.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Conducting formal interviews will be the next stage of the research.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Where there was a lack of formal preparation (in one particular group), this appears to have been an unfortunate precursor to a breakdown in relationships.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In some cases, formal caregivers must contribute to ethical and appropriate decisions regarding care.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Network members signed a formal letter of agreement with the university and agreed to participate in two research projects over a one-year period.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The approach allows rigour in a way that is similar to the use of formal methods in verifying computer programs.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Every step needs engineering rigour, based on sound computer science and supported by formal quality control.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

To generate more reliable survey responses from a population with limited formal education, self-administered face-to-face interviews were conducted using a structured questionnaire.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Furthermore, these banks are organized in formal associations, established around the mid-19th century.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In fact, therefore, both approaches do no more than translate the relevant observation into a formal vocabulary.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Curiously, the suffix is not subject to the same generalisation, but still follows from the same formal analysis.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A more formal explanation may lie in restrictions on a weak layering structure.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of formal?

Translations of formal

in Chinese (Traditional)

正式的, 公開的, 形式上的…

Meaning of formal in English

formal adjective (OFFICIAL)

formal adjective (SERIOUS)

formal adjective (EDUCATION)

formal adjective (GARDEN)

Grammar

formal | American Dictionary

formal | Business English

formally

Examples of formal

Translations of formal

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