a style or method in art, music, literature, science, etc. that pays more attention to the rules and the correct arrangement and appearance of things than to inner meaning and feelings The defense of formalism is always that it serves to control an excess of feeling.
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NAmE//ˈfɔrməlɪst//
noun adjective [usually before noun] formalist theorySee formalism in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Check pronunciation: formalism