Found 1 items, similar to Formal cause.
English → English (gcide) Definition: Formal cause Formal \Form"al\ (f[^o]rm"al), a. [L. formalis: cf. F. formel.] 1. Belonging to the form, shape, frame, external appearance, or organization of a thing. [1913 Webster] 2. Belonging to the constitution of a thing, as distinguished from the matter composing it; having the power of making a thing what it is; constituent; essential; pertaining to or depending on the forms, so called, of the human intellect. [1913 Webster] Of [the sounds represented by] letters, the material part is breath and voice; the formal is constituted by the motion and figure of the organs of speech. --Holder. [1913 Webster] 3. Done in due form, or with solemnity; according to regular method; not incidental, sudden or irregular; express; as, he gave his formal consent. [1913 Webster] His obscure funeral . . . No noble rite nor formal ostentation. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 4. Devoted to, or done in accordance with, forms or rules; punctilious; regular; orderly; methodical; of a prescribed form; exact; prim; stiff; ceremonious; as, a man formal in his dress, his gait, his conversation. [1913 Webster] A cold-looking, formal garden, cut into angles and rhomboids. --W. Irwing. [1913 Webster] She took off the formal cap that confined her hair. --Hawthorne. [1913 Webster] 5. Having the form or appearance without the substance or essence; external; as, formal duty; formal worship; formal courtesy, etc. [1913 Webster] 6. Dependent in form; conventional. [1913 Webster] Still in constraint your suffering sex remains, Or bound in formal or in real chains. --Pope. [1913 Webster] 7. Sound; normal. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] To make of him a formal man again. --Shak. [1913 Webster] Formal cause. See under Cause. Syn: Precise; punctilious; stiff; starched; affected; ritual; ceremonial; external; outward. Usage: Formal, Ceremonious. When applied to things, these words usually denote a mere accordance with the rules of form or ceremony; as, to make a formal call; to take a ceremonious leave. When applied to a person or his manners, they are used in a bad sense; a person being called formal who shapes himself too much by some pattern or set form, and ceremonious when he lays too much stress on the conventional laws of social intercourse. Formal manners render a man stiff or ridiculous; a ceremonious carriage puts a stop to the ease and freedom of social intercourse. [1913 Webster] Cause \Cause\ (k[add]z), n. [F. cause, fr. L. causa. Cf. Cause, v., Kickshaw.] 1. That which produces or effects a result; that from which anything proceeds, and without which it would not exist. [1913 Webster] Cause is substance exerting its power into act, to make one thing begin to be. --Locke. [1913 Webster] 2. That which is the occasion of an action or state; ground; reason; motive; as, cause for rejoicing. [1913 Webster] 3. Sake; interest; advantage. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] I did it not for his cause. --2 Cor. vii. 12. [1913 Webster] 4. (Law) A suit or action in court; any legal process by which a party endeavors to obtain his claim, or what he regards as his right; case; ground of action. [1913 Webster] 5. Any subject of discussion or debate; matter; question; affair in general. [1913 Webster] What counsel give you in this weighty cause! --Shak. [1913 Webster] 6. The side of a question, which is espoused, advocated, and upheld by a person or party; a principle which is advocated; that which a person or party seeks to attain. [1913 Webster] God befriend us, as our cause is just. --Shak. [1913 Webster] The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause. --Burke. [1913 Webster] Efficient cause, the agent or force that produces a change or result. Final cause, the end, design, or object, for which anything is done. Formal cause, the elements of a conception which make the conception or the thing conceived to be what it is; or the idea viewed as a formative principle and co["o]perating with the matter. Material cause, that of which anything is made. Proximate cause. See under Proximate. To make common cause with, to join with in purposes and aims. --Macaulay. Syn: Origin; source; mainspring; motive; reason; incitement; inducement; purpose; object; suit; action. [1913 Webster]