Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Formality \For*mal"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Formalities}. [Cf. F.
   formalit['e].]
   1. The condition or quality of being formal, strictly
      ceremonious, precise, etc.

   2. Form without substance.

            Such [books] as are mere pieces of formality, so
            that if you look on them, you look though them.
                                                  --Fuller.

   3. Compliance with formal or conventional rules; ceremony;
      conventionality.

            Nor was his attendance on divine offices a matter of
            formality and custom, but of conscience.
                                                  --Atterbury.

   4. An established order; conventional rule of procedure;
      usual method; habitual mode.

            He was installed with all the usual formalities.
                                                  --C.
                                                  Middleton.

   5. pl. The dress prescribed for any body of men, academical,
      municipal, or sacerdotal. [Obs.]

            The doctors attending her in their formalities as
            far as Shotover.                      --Fuller.

   6. That which is formal; the formal part.

            It unties the inward knot of marriage, . . . while
            it aims to keep fast the outward formality.
                                                  --Milton.

   7. The quality which makes a thing what it is; essence.

            The material part of the evil came from our father
            upon us, but the formality of it, the sting and the
            curse, is only by ourselves.          --Jer. Taylor.

            The formality of the vow lies in the promise made to
            God.                                  --Bp.
                                                  Stillingfleet.

   8. (Scholastic. Philos.) The manner in which a thing is
      conceived or constituted by an act of human thinking; the
      result of such an act; as, animality and rationality are
      formalities.

Source : WordNet®

formality
     n 1: a requirement of etiquette or custom [syn: {formalities}]
     2: a manner that strictly observes all forms and ceremonies
        [syn: {formalness}] [ant: {informality}]
     3: compliance with formal rules