formal
In accordance with established forms.
Example
“She spoke formal English, without any dialect.”
Other meanings
Relating to the form or structure of something.
“Formal linguistics ignores the vocabulary of languages and focuses solely on their grammar.”
Relating to formation.
“The formal stage is a critical part of any child's development.”
Example sentences
Word history
From Latin "fōrmālis".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “formal” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.