Dictionary

informality en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree English informal Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Latin -itāsder. Old French -itebor. Middle English -ite English -ity English informality From informal + -ity.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The condition of being informal.
   • More importantly and closer to life, slangs help build an instant intimacy and informality. 2021 September 3, Charudutta Panigrahi, “The Intimacy Of Slangs”, in Odisha News, archived from the original on 19 Mar 2025:
   • These people, drawn from many different places and with many different backgrounds, gave the whole life of the County an informality that was new to Ellen, an informality to which she never quite accustomed herself. 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC:
2. (countable, uncountable) An informal term or usage; a colloquialism.
   • One long riff without a beginning and without an end :Template:.., only portions of which […] may be served up to us here, punctuated — the word hardly seems appropriate to a piecemeal poetry in which, except for the ubiquitous slash, there is precious little punctuation — momentarily halted, then, by an affirmative informality ("yeah"), by a labored repetition ("he was/ he was/ i swear he was"), or by a barbarous appeal for final comprehension: "know what i mean/ dontyah dontyah dontyah know what i mean." 1976 December 18, Rudy Kikel, “The Doomsday Book by the Jewish Comedian”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 25, page 14:

Forms

Antonyms

formality

Translations (16)

bg неофициалност (condition of being informal) · ca informalitat (condition of being informal) · tr resmiyetsizlik (condition of being informal) · tr senlibenlilik (condition of being informal) · es informalidad (condition of being informal) · gl informalidade (condition of being informal) · bg неформалност (condition of being informal) · fr informalité (condition of being informal) · oc informalitat (condition of being informal) · pl potoczność (condition of being informal) · ast informalidá (condition of being informal) · tr informelite (condition of being informal) · it informalità (condition of being informal) · tr teklifsizlik (condition of being informal) · pt informalidade (condition of being informal) · pl nieformalność (condition of being informal)