FORMALISM

n. 1 a excessive adherence to prescribed forms. b the use of forms without regard to inner significance. 2 derog. an artist's concentration on form at the expense of content. 3 the treatment of mathematics as a manipulation of meaningless symbols. 4 Theatr. a symbolic and stylized manner of production. 5 Physics & Math. the mathematical description of a physical situation etc. formalist n. formalistic adj.