formally
/ˈfɔːməli
/adverb
1In accordance with convention or etiquette: he was formally attired...
- He apologised for not wearing a suit, but quickly made it clear that he was more formally attired than his normal dress of a T-shirt.
- Paired with a tie, a pocket square tends to make a man look more formally attired.
- You were rather formally attired, wearing a velvet dress that would have been appropriate for a concert stage.
2Officially: the Mayor will formally open the new Railway Centre...
- The Commission said that, of the 19 alleged breaches, a case had been formally opened for 14 and five were still at the enquiries stage.
- Early in 1990, our institute formally opened to foreign volunteers.
- The building will not formally be opened for another few weeks but the organisers of last night's premiere managed to hire it out for the occasion.
3 [sentence adverb] In outward form or appearance: formally, ministers are responsible to the monarch...
- The decision to dissolve Parliament or appoint Cabinet ministers is formally exercised by the monarch, who acts on the Prime Minister's advice.
- On the other hand, the statute may upon its true construction merely require an act which appears formally valid and has not been quashed by judicial review.
3.1In terms of form or structure: formally complex types of text...
- Sophocles' play was for Aristotle an exemplary tragedy, both formally, in terms of unity of action, and in its tragic story.
- In each of the 12 sonatas the first movement is the more formally complex and more classical of the two.
- The permanent element, with its symbolic entrance bridge and pylon, proclaimed itself structurally and formally by a group of six roof towers.