FORMALLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does formally mean? 

• FORMALLY (adverb)
  The adverb FORMALLY has 2 senses:

1. with official authorization

2. in a formal manner

  Familiarity information: FORMALLY used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORMALLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

With official authorization

Synonyms:

formally; officially

Context example:

the club will be formally recognized

Pertainym:

formal (characteristic of or befitting a person in authority)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In a formal manner

Context example:

he was dressed rather formally

Antonym:

informally (without formality)

Pertainym:

formal (being in accord with established forms and conventions and requirements (as e.g. of formal dress))

 Context examples 

This trend formally launched at the end of last month with the new moon solar eclipse of December 25 in Capricorn at four degrees.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

That could not be—and I was formally dismissed from her favour and her house.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The CGS system was introduced formally by the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1874.

(CGS System, NCI Thesaurus)

A terminology concept modeled in a structured and formally well-understood way using logic-based semantics which can be given by a translation into first-order predicate logic.

(Description Logic Concept, NCI Thesaurus)

The Parson Russell was formally known as the Jack Russell Terrier.

(Jack Russell Terrier, NCI Thesaurus)

Having made a record of, set down in permanent form, or formally registered to participate in an activity.

(Entered, NCI Thesaurus)

She formally charged Michael Dennin with the murder of Dutchy and Harkey, and the prisoner lay in his bunk and listened to the testimony, first of Hans, and then of Edith.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I was not considered as being formally received into the school, however, until J.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Unused as I was to strangers, it was rather a trial to appear thus formally summoned in Mr. Rochester's presence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I glanced at the hastily clad clergyman, with the formally dressed lodger seated beside him, and was amused at the surprise which Holmes’s simple deduction had brought to their faces.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)