1. formation(n = noun.group) - an arrangement of people or things acting as a unit; "a defensive formation"; "a formation of planes"
is a kind of arrangement
has particulars: flight, military formation, backfield, secondary, line, line, center, flank, wing, head, rear
Derived form verb form1
2. formation(n = noun.act) shaping - the act of fabricating something in a particular shape;
is a kind of fabrication, manufacture, manufacturing
has particulars: filing, forging, metalwork, metalworking, granulation, grooving, rifling, turning
Derived forms verb form4, verb form5
3. formation(n = noun.act) constitution, establishment, organisation, organization - the act of forming or establishing something; "the constitution of a PTA group last year"; "it was the establishment of his reputation"; "he still remembers the organization of the club"
is a kind of beginning, commencement, start
has particulars: unionisation, unionization, collectivisation, collectivization, communisation, communization, federation, colonisation, colonization, settlement
Derived forms verb form5, verb form1
4. formation(n = noun.object) geological formation - (geology) the geological features of the earth;
is a kind of object, physical object
has particulars: aquifer, beach, cave, cliff, drop, drop-off, delta, diapir, folium, foreshore, ice mass, lakefront, massif, monocline, mouth, depression, natural depression, elevation, natural elevation, oceanfront, chain, chain of mountains, mountain chain, mountain range, range, range of mountains, relict, ridge, ridgeline, ridge, shore, incline, side, slope, fountain, natural spring, outflow, outpouring, spring, scree, talus, mineral vein, vein, crater, volcanic crater, wall, groundwater level, water level, water table, pillars of hercules
5. formation(n = noun.artifact) - a particular spatial arrangement;
is a kind of arrangement, placement
has particulars: raster, rig, rigging, split
Derived forms verb form4, verb form5
6. formation(n = noun.process) - natural process that causes something to form; "the formation of gas in the intestine"; "the formation of crystals"; "the formation of pseudopods"
is a kind of action, activity, natural action, natural process
has particulars: encrustation, incrustation, reticulation
7. formation(n = noun.act) - creation by mental activity; "the formation of sentences"; "the formation of memories"
is a kind of creating by mental acts
has particulars: affixation
Derived form verb form3
1. The act of giving form or shape to anything; a forming; a shaping. Beattie. [1913 Webster]
2. The manner in which a thing is formed; structure; construction; conformation; form; as, the peculiar formation of the heart. [1913 Webster]
3. A substance formed or deposited. [1913 Webster]
4. Mineral deposits and rock masses designated with reference to their origin; as, the siliceous formation about geysers; alluvial formations; marine formations. [1913 Webster]
5. The arrangement of a body of troops, as in a square, column, etc. Farrow. [1913 Webster]
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)
N composition, constitution, crasis, combination, inclusion, admission, comprehension, reception, embodiment, formation, containing, constituting.
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.
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.
calque formation, geological formation, heat of formation, military formation, pair formation, reaction formation, reticular formation, word formation