For-mā'l'i-ty, n.
n. [Fr. formalité, Sp. formalidad, It. formalità.]
- The condition or quality of being formal, express, regular, strictly ceremonious, precise, &c.
- Form without substance.
Such [books] as are mere pieces of formality, so that if you look on them, you look through them. Fuller. 3. Compliance with formal or conventional rules; ceremony; conventionality. “For passion seldom loves formality.” Browne. Nor was his attendance on divine offices a matter of formality and custom, but of conscience. Atterbury. 4. That which is formal; the formal part; hence, the quality which constitutes a thing what it is; essence. It unties the inward knot of marriage, . . . while it aims to keep fast the outward formality. Milton. 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. Bp. Taylor. The formality of the vow lies in the promise made to God. Stillingfleet. 5. An established order; conventional rule of procedure; usual and express method; habitual mode. After the election, he was installed with all the usual formalities. Middleton. 6. (Scholastic Philos.) 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.