I. for ‧ mat 1 AC /ˈfɔːmæt $ ˈfɔːr-/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1800-1900 ; Language: French ; Origin: German , from Latin formatus , past participle of formare 'to form' ]
1 . the way in which something such as a television show or meeting is organized or arranged:
The courses were run to a consistent format.
2 . the size, shape, design etc, in which something such as a book or magazine is produced:
a large-format book for the partially-sighted
3 . used to talk about video, CD, tape etc when saying what type of equipment it can be played on
II. format 2 AC BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle formatted , present participle formatting ) [transitive]
1 . technical to organize the space on a computer ↑ disk so that information can be stored on it
2 . to arrange the pages of a book or the information on a computer etc into a particular design:
better ways to format your spreadsheets
—formatting noun [uncountable]
—formatted adjective