formalist
/ˈfɔɹml̩ˌɪst/
formalist noun: an overly formal person, especially one who adheres to current forms; a stickler.
Noun
formalist (plural formalists)
- An overly formal person, especially one who adheres to current forms; a stickler
- The Besht preached that the simple man, imbued with native faith and able to pray fervently and wholeheartedly with a sense of joy in his heart, was nearer and dearer to God than the learned but joyless formalist spending his whole life in the study of Talmud.2017, Velvel Pasternak, Behind the Music, Stories, Anecdotes, Articles and Reflections, page 225
- An advocate of formalism
Adjective
formalist (comparative more formalist, superlative most formalist)
- Of or pertaining to formalism; formalistic
Forms of formalist
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | formalists |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more formalist |
| superlative | most formalist |
Origin of formalist
From formal + -ist.
Words formed from formalist
Questions about formalist
- What does formalist mean?
- Formalist means an overly formal person, especially one who adheres to current forms; a stickler.
- What part of speech is formalist?
- Formalist can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce formalist?
- Formalist is pronounced /ˈfɔɹml̩ˌɪst/ (US).
- What is the plural of formalist?
- The plural of formalist is formalists.
Words near formalist in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: formalist (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-formalist.wav.
Cite this entry: “formalist.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/formalist. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.