1. (n.) The condition or quality of being formal, strictly ceremonious, precise, etc.

2. (n.) Form without substance.

3. (n.) Compliance with formal or conventional rules; ceremony; conventionality.

4. (n.) An established order; conventional rule of procedure; usual method; habitual mode.

5. (n.) The dress prescribed for any body of men, academic, municipal, or sacerdotal.

6. (n.) That which is formal; the formal part.

7. (n.) The quality which makes a thing what it is; essence.

8. (n.) The manner in which a thing is conceived or constituted by an act of human thinking; the result of such an act; as, animality and rationality are formalities.

Procrustean law act baccalaureate service bienseance bill bylaw canon celebration ceremonial ceremony circumstance civility code commencement conformity convenance convention conventional usage conventionalism conventionality convocation correctness criterion custom decency decorousness decorum decree demureness dictate dictation duty earnestness edict elegance empty formality enactment etiquette euphemism euphuism exactness exercise exercises exquisiteness form form of worship formal formalism formula formulary function good form goody-goodness goody-goodyism graduation graduation exercises gravity grimness guideline heraldry holy rite inaugural inauguration inflexibility initiation institution jus law law of nature legislation lex liturgy long face maxim measure mode of worship mummery mystery norm norma observance office order of nature order of worship ordinance ordonnance overniceness overpreciseness overrefinement pedantry performance politesse pomp practice preciosity preciousness precisianism precision prescribed form prescript prescription pride principle procedure propriety protocol punctilio purism regulation religious ceremony rigidity rite rite de passage rite of passage ritual ritual observance rituality rubric rule ruling sacrament sacramental sedateness seemliness seriousness service set form sober-mindedness soberness sobersidedness sobersides sobriety social convention social usage solemnity solemnization solemnness somberness staidness standard standing order state statute stiffness straight face strictness thoughtfulness universal law weightiness wont