01 n. The condition or quality of being formal, strictly ceremonious, precise, etc.
pl.
Formalities ((#))
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1.
The condition or quality of being formal, strictly ceremonious, precise, etc.
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2.
Form without substance.“Such [books] as are mere pieces of formality, so that if you look on them, you look though them.” — Fuller.
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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.” — Atterbury.
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4.
An established order; conventional rule of procedure; usual method; habitual mode.“He was installed with all the usual formalities.” — C. Middleton.
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5.
The dress prescribed for any body of men, academical, municipal, or sacerdotal.[Obs.]“The doctors attending her in their formalities as far as Shotover.” — Fuller.
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6.
That which is formal; the formal part.“It unties the inward knot of marriage, . . . while it aims to keep fast the outward formality.” — Milton.
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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.” — Jer. Taylor.“The formality of the vow lies in the promise made to God.” — Bp. Stillingfleet.
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8.
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.(Scholastic. Philos.)