From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishformalismform‧al‧is‧m /ˈfɔːməlɪzəm $ ˈfɔːr-/ noun [uncountable] ARHa style or method in art, religion, or science that pays a lot of attention to the rules and correct forms of something, rather than to inner meanings —formalist noun [countable] —formalistic /ˌfɔːməˈlɪstɪk◂ $ ˌfɔːr-/ adjective
Examples from the Corpus
formalism• Mathematical truth is something that goes beyond mere formalism.• The notion of mathematical truth goes beyond the whole concept of formalism.• The attempt to make such distinctions clear was a strong motive behind the whole idea of formalism.• It demonstrates the limitations of formalism.• However, communication with users and clients is not necessarily helped by the use of formalism.• Remember that elsewhere our formalism contains complex numbers.• Mr Bernard's formalism disregards all of the significant aspects of my work.• A return to formalism is highly unlikely given popular expectations of individualized justice. 