Formation

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: for=ma=tion

CIDE DICTIONARY

Formation, n. [L. formatio: cf. F. formation.].

•  The act of giving form or shape to anything; a forming; a shaping.  Beattie.  [1913 Webster]
•  The manner in which a thing is formed; structure; construction; conformation; form; as, the peculiar formation of the heart.  [1913 Webster]
•  A substance formed or deposited.  [1913 Webster]
•  Mineral deposits and rock masses designated with reference to their origin; as, the siliceous formation about geysers; alluvial formations; marine formations.  [1913 Webster]
•  The arrangement of a body of troops, as in a square, column, etc.  Farrow.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Formation, n.
1 the act or an instance of forming; the process of being formed.
2 a thing formed.
3 a structure or arrangement of parts.
4 a particular arrangement, e.g. of troops, aircraft in flight, etc.
5 Geol. an assemblage of rocks or series of strata having some common characteristic.

Derivative

formational adj.

Etymology

ME f. OF formation or L formatio (as FORM)

THESAURUS

Formation

Platonic form, Platonic idea, accumulation, acronym, acrostic, aesthetic form, allocation, allotment, anatomy, appearance, apportionment, archetype, architectonics, architecture, arrangement, array, arraying, art form, assemblage, assembly, avyayibhava, back formation, build, building, buildup, cast, casting, clipped word, close formation, collation, collocation, combination, composition, compound, concord, configuration, conformation, conjugate, constitution, construction, conversion, crafting, craftsmanship, creation, crystallization, cultivation, cut, deployment, design, development, devising, display, disposal, disposition, distribution, dvandva, dvigu, echelon, effectuation, efformation, elaboration, embodiment, endocentric compound, erection, establishment, exocentric compound, extraction, fabric, fabrication, fashion, fashioning, figuration, figure, forging, form, format, formation flying, formature, forming, formulation, foundation, founding, frame, framing, generation, genesis, genre, getup, grouping, growing, handicraft, handiwork, harmony, harvesting, impression, inauguration, inception, incorporation, inner form, installation, institution, junction, layout, lineup, machining, make, makeup, making, manufacture, manufacturing, marshaling, materialization, matrix, milling, mining, mixture, modality, mode, model, modeling, mold, molding, morphogenesis, morphogeny, order, ordering, organic structure, organism, organization, organizing, paronym, pattern, patterning, peace, physique, piecing together, placement, plan, prefabrication, preparation, processing, producing, production, proportion, prototype, putting together, quiet, quietude, raising, realization, refining, regimentation, regularity, routine, sculpture, set, set-up, setting-up, setup, shape, shaping, significant form, smelting, spoonerism, stamp, structure, structuring, style, symmetry, syneresis, syntax, synthesis, system, tatpurusha, tectonics, texture, tissue, tranquillity, turn, type, uniformity, warp and woof, weave, web, word form, workmanship

ROGET THESAURUS

Formation

Composition

N composition, constitution, crasis, combination, inclusion, admission, comprehension, reception, embodiment, formation, containing, constituting.

Production

N production, creation, construction, formation, fabrication, manufacture, building, architecture, erection, edification, coinage, diaster, organization, nisus formativus, putting together, establishment, workmanship, performance, achievement, flowering, fructification, inflorescence, bringing forth, parturition, birth, birth-throe, childbirth, delivery, confinement, accouchement, travail, labor, midwifery, obstetrics, geniture, gestation, assimilation, evolution, development, growth, entelechy, fertilization, gemination, germination, heterogamy, genesis, generation, epigenesis, procreation, progeneration, propagation, fecundation, impregnation, albumen, spontaneous generation, archegenesis, archebiosis, biogenesis, abiogenesis, digenesis, dysmerogenesis, eumerogenesis, heterogenesis, oogenesis, merogenesis, metogenesis, monogenesis, parthenogenesis, homogenesis, xenogenesis, authorship, publication, works, opus, oeuvre, biogeny, dissogeny, xenogeny, tocogony, vacuolization, edifice, building, structure, fabric, erection, pile, tower, flower, fruit, produced, producing, productive of, prolific, creative, formative, genetic, genial, genital, pregnant, enceinte, big with, fraught with, in the family way, teeming, parturient, in the straw, brought to bed of, puerperal, puerperous, digenetic, heterogenetic, oogenetic, xenogenetic, ectogenous, gamic, haematobious, sporogenous, sporophorous, architectonic, ex nihilo nihil, fiat lux, materiam superabat opus, nemo dat quod non habet.

Form

N form, figure, shape, conformation, configuration, make, formation, frame, construction, cut, set, build, trim, cut of one's jib, stamp, type, cast, mold, fashion, contour, structure, plasmature, feature, lineament, turn, phase, posture, attitude, pose, morphism, isomorphism, forming, formation, figuration, efformation, sculpture, plasmation, formed, plastic, fictile, formative, fluid, plasmic, isomorphous, pleomorphic, protean, changeable, form, figure, shape, conformation, configuration, make, formation, frame, construction, cut, set, build, trim, cut of one's jib, stamp, type, cast, mold, fashion, contour, structure, plasmature, feature, lineament, turn, phase, posture, attitude, pose, morphism, isomorphism, forming, formation, figuration, efformation, sculpture, plasmation, formed, plastic, fictile, formative, fluid, plasmic, isomorphous, pleomorphic, protean, changeable.