formal

Officially arranged, recognized, or recorded.

• She made a formal complaint.
• He has no formal training in music.
• We are waiting for formal approval.

Similar words: official

Opposites: unofficial

Common phrases: formal education, formal complaint, formal approval

Following polite social rules, often with serious behaviour or special clothes.

• You need formal clothes for dinner.
• His manner was polite and formal.
• Is the wedding very formal?

Similar words: ceremonious

Opposites: casual, informal

Common phrases: formal dress, formal dinner, formal occasion

Following accepted rules or traditional ways of speaking, writing, or doing things.

• Use formal language in this letter.
• Her essay follows a formal style.
• Formal English avoids many everyday shortened expressions.

Similar words: conventional

Opposites: informal

Common phrases: formal English, formal language, formal style

Concerned with how something is organized or shaped.

• We studied the poem’s formal structure.
• Formal analysis considers how the parts fit together.
• The paintings share several formal features.

Similar words: structural

Common phrases: formal structure, formal analysis, formal features

A social event, often for students, where people wear special, smart clothes.

• She wore a blue dress to the formal.
• Our school formal is next Friday.
• They attended several formals together.

Similar words: formal dance

Common phrases: school formal, attend a formal, the annual formal