format
Americannoun
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formats
plural
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the shape and size of a book as determined by the number of times the original sheet has been folded to form the leaves.
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the general physical appearance of a book, magazine, or newspaper, such as the typeface, binding, quality of paper, margins, etc.
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the organization, plan, style, or type of something.
The format of the show allowed for topical and controversial gags.
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Computers. the arrangement of data for computer input or output, such as the number and size of fields in a record or the spacing and punctuation of information in a report.
verb (used with object)
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formats,
present (3rd person singular)
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formatted,
past participle, past
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formatting
present participle
-
to plan or provide a format for.
to format the annual telethon.
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Computers.
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to set the format of (input or output).
Some word-processing programs format output in a variety of ways.
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to prepare (a disk) for writing and reading.
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verb (used without object)
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formats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
formatted,
past participle, past
-
formatting
present participle
noun
-
the general appearance of a publication, including type style, paper, binding, etc
-
an approximate indication of the size of a publication as determined by the number of times the original sheet of paper is folded to make a leaf See also duodecimo quarto
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style, plan, or arrangement, as of a television programme
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computing
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the defined arrangement of data encoded in a file or for example on magnetic disk or CD-ROM, essential for the correct recording and recovery of data on different devices
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the arrangement of text on printed output or a display screen, or a coded description of such an arrangement
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verb
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To divide a disk into marked sectors so that it may store data.
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To determine the arrangement of data for storage or display.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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formatsimple
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formatssimple
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have formattedperfect
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has formattedperfect
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am formattingprogressive
-
are formattingprogressive
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is formattingprogressive
-
have been formattingperfect progressive
-
has been formattingperfect progressive
Past
-
formattedsimple
-
had formattedperfect
-
was formattingprogressive
-
were formattingprogressive
-
had been formattingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of format
First recorded in 1830–40; from French, from Latin (liber) fōrmātus “(book) shaped (in a specified way)”; see formation ( def. )
Explanation
In saving a new electronic document, you must choose a format, for instance PDF, Word doc, or XML, which dictates how the information is to be organized, displayed, and manipulated. To format information is to arrange it according to preexisting parameters. Electronic files require a format or, more commonly, a "file type," so computers will know how to open, read, and change them. Entertainment media are delivered in such varied formats as VHS, CD, DVD, MP3, and MOV. In the world of AM/FM radio, format is the type of music a station plays, such as top-40, urban, dance, or country.
Vocabulary lists containing format
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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Computer Science and Technology - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It then became the projector used at L.A.’s Vista Theater, one of only four theaters in the world able to show film in the VistaVision format.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Debate is one way to do that, but I’ve got to say, I struggle with that format.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
His comment was among more than 900 submissions that appeared to follow a chain-letter format promoted by We the Investors, an advocacy group for retail investors formed after the 2021 GameStop frenzy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Banerjee says for the time being the tournament's identity is built around its unique 100-ball format.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Biber’s ‘Guardian Angel’ is an especially interesting piece because it is constructed in a format known as a ‘Passacaglia’, which divided moral opinion in the seventeenth century but continues to influence music today.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Collecting 16 VistaVision titles, the series follows a recent uptick in audience interest concerning projection formats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
In total, Turner played 51 matches for Hampshire across all formats, taking 97 wickets.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
OpenAI is spinning up carousel-style product ads in ChatGPT as it expands its e-commerce formats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Puricelli said he has enjoyed trying out several premium formats in his life, but found that the theater itself can determine whether the upgrade is worthwhile.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
The data transfer rate just isn’t good enough for the size of music files, even in compressed formats.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
"AI thrives on recognising patterns. And legal citations and arguments are always formatted in the same way, so it's easy for an AI to follow a template and generate fake ones," said Charlotin.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
After leaving ESPN, Bayless joined Fox Sports, where he co-hosted similarly formatted show “Undisputed” — for much of the time with co-host Shannon Sharpe — from 2016- to 2024.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026
However, Wells participated in a CBP webinar last week, so she knew how to create a properly formatted file herself, and quickly made her submission on Monday morning.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 20, 2026
Kaufman Lynn, a Florida-based construction firm, built an agent using Procore’s technology that pulls data from nearly a dozen different tools and automatically creates a formatted monthly progress report.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
Lon Teter arrived in the final month to serve as, in effect, production foreman—getting an immense and complicated body of work checked, formatted, and into the paper on time.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
While both phones and laptops now have high-quality cameras, the formatting is a dead giveaway that you’re not on a laptop, says Melissa Marcus, a career coach who worked as a recruiter for 20 years.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
I pleaded with the AI to fix formatting that would take just a few of my own keystrokes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
Spelling mistakes and formatting errors throughout the proclamations have made identifying exempted plants a guessing game.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
Some journals are experimenting with artificial intelligence to screen submissions or flag common problems, like issues with document formatting.
From Slate ● May 3, 2026
While I was formatting the text from earlier—the one for Another Rachel—a new submission popped up.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
