Word.ws English Dictionary

formal equivalence

formal equivalence noun: an approach to translation centered on preserving formal features (such as vocabulary or syntax) of the source in the translated text; word-for-word equivalence.

Noun

formal equivalence (uncountable)

  1. An approach to translation centered on preserving formal features (such as vocabulary or syntax) of the source in the translated text; word-for-word equivalence.
    • Nida made a distinction between two kinds of equivalence in translation: formal equivalence, where the order of the words and their standard or common meanings correspond closely to the syntax and vocabulary of the source; […]2011, David Bellos, chapter 15, in Is that a Fish in Your Ear?

Origin of formal equivalence

Coined by American linguist Eugene Nida.

Questions about formal equivalence

What does formal equivalence mean?
Formal equivalence means an approach to translation centered on preserving formal features (such as vocabulary or syntax) of the source in the translated text; word-for-word equivalence.
What part of speech is formal equivalence?
Formal equivalence is a noun.

Words near formal equivalence in the dictionary

  1. formal causes
  2. formal charge
  3. formal charges
  4. formal education
  5. formal educations
  6. formal equivalence
  7. formal fallacies
  8. formal fallacy
  9. formal grammar
  10. formal grammars
  11. formal hall

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: formal equivalence (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “formal equivalence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/formal_equivalence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.