Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Formalist \Form"al*ist\, n. [Cf. F. formaliste.]
   One overattentive to forms, or too much confined to them;
   esp., one who rests in external religious forms, or observes
   strictly the outward forms of worship, without possessing the
   life and spirit of religion.

         As far a formalist from wisdom sits, In judging eyes,
         as libertines from wits.                 --Young.