Formalism meaning

fôr'mə-lĭz'əm
(literature) An approach to interpretation and/or evaluation focused on the (usually linguistic) structure of a literary work rather than on the contexts of its origin or reception.
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Rigorous or excessive adherence to recognized forms, as in religion or art.
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An instance of rigorous or excessive adherence to recognized forms.
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A method of aesthetic analysis that emphasizes structural elements and artistic techniques rather than content, especially in literary works.
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Strict or excessive attention to or insistence on outward forms, as in art, or established traditions, as in religion.
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An instance of this.
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Strict adherence to a given form of conduct, practice etc.
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(computing) One of several alternative computational paradigms for a given theory.
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(music) The tendency to elevate formal above expressive value in music, as in serialism.
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(mathematics, physics) A particular mathematical or scientific theory or description of a given state or effect.
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Origin of formalism

  • From formal +‎ -ism.
    From Wiktionary

Formalism Sentence Examples

  • But this formal agreement includes material differences, and the spirit which breathes in Lotze's writings is more akin to the objects and aspirations of the idealistic school than to the cold formalism of Herbart.

  • This formalism shows itself in many ways.

  • On the one hand, worship passed into formalism and formalism into disuse.

  • Somewhat apart from current controversies stood the teaching of the school of Chartres, humanistically nourished on the study of the ancients, and important as a revival of Platonism in opposition to the formalism of the Aristotelians.

  • All philosophy is the search for reality and rational certainty as opposed to mere formalism on the one hand, to authority and dogmatism on the other.

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Words near formalism in the Dictionary