formalism
[fawr-muh-liz-uh m]
noun
strict adherence to, or observance of, prescribed or traditional forms, as in music, poetry, and art.
Religion. strong attachment to external forms and observances.
Ethics. a doctrine that acts are in themselves right or wrong regardless of consequences.
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.
Origin of formalism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for formalism
decorum, pomp, protocol, form, formality, propriety, nicety, preciseness, prescription, usage, strictness, conformity, ceremonial, politeness, politesse, correctness, punctiliousness, conventionalism, mummeryExamples from the Web for formalism
Contemporary Examples of formalism
He was accused of “formalism,” a catch-all accusation that, like “Trotskyite,” had the ring of execution about it.
The concept is that the formalism of past summits has made meaningful conversation difficult.
Historical Examples of formalism
Little shades of formalism had crept here and there into her manner, even toward me.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
There is in them an irreconcilable mixture of fury and formalism.
Modern Painters Volume I (of V)John Ruskin
His sense of formalism had been sloughed off, his agreed-upon reactions bypassed.
WarmRobert Sheckley
Deceit, flattery, formalism in prayer are abominable to God.
Broken BreadThomas Champness
He could never get over the idea that formalism was the soul of function.
The Music MasterCharles Klein
formalism
noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper