Formalities

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  formalities \formalities\ n.
     a set of procedures required to make a transaction official.
  
     Syn: form, formality.
          [WordNet 1.5]



From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Formality \For*mal"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Formalities}. [Cf. F.
     formalit['e].]
     1. The condition or quality of being formal, strictly
        ceremonious, precise, etc.
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     2. Form without substance.
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              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.
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              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.
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              He was installed with all the usual formalities.
                                                    --C.
                                                    Middleton.
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     5. pl. The dress prescribed for any body of men, academical,
        municipal, or sacerdotal. [Obs.]
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              The doctors attending her in their formalities as
              far as Shotover.                      --Fuller.
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     6. That which is formal; the formal part.
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              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.
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              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.
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              The formality of the vow lies in the promise made to
              God.                                  --Bp.
                                                    Stillingfleet.
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     8. (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.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  formalities
       n : a requirement of etiquette or custom [syn: {formality}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  37 Moby Thesaurus words for "formalities":
     amenities, ceremonies, civilities, civility, comity, convention,
     courtliness, decencies, decorum, dignities, diplomatic code,
     elegance, elegancies, etiquette, exquisite manners, gentilities,
     good form, good manners, graces, manners, mores,
     natural politeness, point of etiquette, politeness, politesse,
     proprieties, protocol, punctilio, quiet good manners, rites,
     rituals, rules of conduct, social code, social conduct,
     social graces, social procedures, social usage