formalism

[ fawr-muh-liz-uhm ]

noun

1. strict adherence to, or observance of, prescribed or traditional forms, as in music, poetry, and art.
2. Religion. strong attachment to external forms and observances.
3. Ethics. a doctrine that acts are in themselves right or wrong regardless of consequences.
4. Logic, Mathematics. a doctrine, which evolved from a proposal of David Hilbert, that mathematics, including the logic used in proofs, can be based on the formal manipulation of symbols without regard to their meaning.

formalism

/ ˈfɔːməˌlɪzəm /

noun

1. scrupulous or excessive adherence to outward form at the expense of inner reality or content
2. 1. the mathematical or logical structure of a scientific argument as distinguished from its subject matter
   2. the notation, and its structure, in which information is expressed
3. theatre a stylized mode of production
4. (in Marxist criticism) excessive concern with artistic technique at the expense of social values, etc
5. See intuitionism, logicism
   the philosophical theory that a mathematical statement has no meaning but that its symbols, regarded as physical objects, exhibit a structure that has useful applications Compare logicism intuitionism

Derived Forms

• ˈformalist, noun
• ˌformalˈistically, adverb
• ˌformalˈistic, adjective

Other Words From

• formal·ist noun adjective
• formal·istic adjective
• formal·isti·cal·ly adverb
• anti·formal·ist noun adjective
• non·formal·ism noun
• nonfor·mal·istic adjective
• unfor·mal·istic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of formalism¹

First recorded in 1830–40; formal ¹ + -ism

Example Sentences

Formalism says by combining and recombining them, contextualizing them in terms of what’s being heard, musically, that’s where meaning is found.

From Time

Hardy called his new formalism the “causaloid” framework, where the causaloid is the mathematical object used to calculate the probabilities of outcomes of any measurement in any region.

From Quanta Magazine

Accounting for these scenarios has forced researchers to develop new mathematical formalisms and ways of thinking.

From Quanta Magazine

He was accused of “formalism,” a catch-all accusation that, like “Trotskyite,” had the ring of execution about it.

From The Daily Beast

The concept is that the formalism of past summits has made meaningful conversation difficult.

From The Daily Beast

Originally trained as a painter, Mthethwa brings a determined visual formalism to the portraits of his subjects in their homes.

From The Daily Beast

The very origin of Khassidism was due to a protest against that cold formalism which excluded everything imaginative.

From Project Gutenberg

If there is any bias on the bench that is popularly and justly disliked it is a bias towards formalism and technicalities.

From Project Gutenberg

There was a formalism to it, there was pomp and circumstance.

From Project Gutenberg

In Islam devotion is a strong point, formalism is its weakness.

From Project Gutenberg

Any explanation would be futile of this branch of a forgotten formalism.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• decorum