Overview of noun formal

The noun formal has 2 senses

• ball, formal -- (a lavish dance requiring formal attire)


• dinner dress, dinner gown, formal, evening gown -- (a gown for evening wear)

Overview of adj formal

The adj formal has 6 senses

• formal -- (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")


• formal -- (characteristic of or befitting a person in authority; "formal duties"; "an official banquet")


• formal -- ((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")


• conventional, formal, schematic -- (represented in simplified or symbolic form)


• formal -- (logically deductive; "formal proof")


• courtly, formal, stately -- (refined or imposing in manner or appearance; befitting a royal court; "a courtly gentleman")