Fōrm'al, a.

a. [Lat. formalis, Fr. formel, Pr., Sp., & Pg. formal, It. formale.]

1. Belonging to the form, shape, frame, external appearance, or organization of a thing.
2. Belonging to the constitution of a thing, as distinguished from the matter composing it; constitutive; essential; pertaining to, or depending on, the so-called forms of the human intellect.

Of (the sounds represented by) letters, the material part is breath and voice; the formal is constituted by the motions and figure of the organs of speech. Holder. 3. Done in due form, or with solemnity; express; according to regular method; not incidental, sudden, or irregular; as, he gave his formal consent to the treaty. His obscure funeral No noble rite nor formal ostentation. Shak. 4. According to form; agreeable to established mode; regular; methodical; — often in an unfavorable sense. To make of him a formal man again. Shak. A cold-looking, formal garden, cut into angles and rhomboids. Irving.

5. Having the form or appearance without the substance or essence; external; as, formal duty; formal worship.
6. Dependent on form; conventional.

Still in constraint your suffering sex remains, Or bound in formal or in real chains. Pope. Syn. — Precise; punctilious; stiff; starched; affected; ritual; ceremonial; external; outward. — FORMAL, CEREMONIOUS. When applied to things, these words usually denote a mere accordance with the rules of form or ceremony; as, to make a formal call; to take a ceremonious leave. When applied to a person or his manners, they are used in a bad sense; a person being called formal who shapes himself too much by some pattern or set form, and ceremonious when he lays too much stress on the conventional laws of social intercourse. Formal manners render a man stiff or ridiculous; a ceremonious carriage puts a stop to the ease and freedom of social intercourse. Formal in apparel, In gait and countenance surely like a father. Shak. You are too senseless obstinate, my lord, Too ceremonious and traditional. Shak.