formosity

UK/fɔːˈmɒsɪti/US/fɔɹˈmɑsɪti/

formosity noun: beauty.

Noun

formosity (uncountable)

(dated, formal) Beauty.
- In vaine therefore it is to beate our braines,
  To frame that Forme, that fram'd all Formes that are,
  And yet himſelfe a formeleſſe Forme remaines,
  That in Formoſity is past compare,
  His glory is ſo great, his grace ſo rare!1602, John Davies [i.e., John Davies of Hereford], Mirum in modum. A Glimpſe of Gods Glorie and the Soules Shape, London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for VVilliam Aspley, page 38
- A. The Schoolemen affirme; God for his exceeding formoſity and beauty,Sinne for the exceeding deformitie and loathſomneſſe , the firſt matter for the exceeding informitie and inexiſtency.1620, William Basse, A Helpe to Discovrse. Or a Miſcelany of Merriment, London: […] N. O. for Leonard Becker, page 9

Examples of formosity in a sentence

[…] he left not many trees behind him, before he diſcovered mounted upon a black Palfrey a Damſell of exquiſite formoſity, urged with ſorrow making towards him : […]1647, Robert Baron, Εροτεπαιγνnοn of the Cyprian Academy, London: […] W. W., page 8:
His own education was ordinary, his breeding provincially constricted: but he had (with singular personal formosity) an extraordinary faculty of appreciation and an inchanting sense of obligation.1993, Frederick Rolfe, chapter XIX, in The Desire & Pursuit of the Whole, Quartet Books, page 200:

Origin of formosity

From Late Middle English formosite, formosyte, from Old French formosité, from Latin fōrmōsitās (“beauty”). Cognate to French formosité, Scots formosite.

Words that rhyme with formosity

6 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about formosity

What does formosity mean?: Formosity means beauty.
How do you use formosity in a sentence?: […] he left not many trees behind him, before he diſcovered mounted upon a black Palfrey a Damſell of exquiſite formoſity, urged with ſorrow making towards him : […]
What part of speech is formosity?: Formosity is a noun.
How do you pronounce formosity?: Formosity is pronounced /fɔːˈmɒsɪti/ (UK).

Words near formosity in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: formosity (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: 2026-09-02

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