not of a formal, official, or stiffly conventional nature appropriate to everyday life or use denoting or characterized by idiom, vocabulary, etc, appropriate to everyday conversational language rather than to formal written language denoting a second-person pronoun in some languages used when the addressee is regarded as a friend or social inferior
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
in•for•mal /ɪnˈfɔrməl/USA pronunciation
adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- without formality;
casual:an informal visit. - not according to the official manner:informal proceedings.
- Linguisticssuitable to or characteristic of casual speech or writing:an informal use of a word.
- See colloquial.
in•for•mal
(in fôr′məl),USA pronunciation adj.
in•for′mal•ly, adv.
- without formality or ceremony;
casual:an informal visit. - not according to the prescribed, official, or customary way or manner;
irregular;
unofficial:informal proceedings. - Informal Terms, Linguisticssuitable to or characteristic of casual and familiar, but educated, speech or writing.
- Grammarcharacterizing the second singular pronominal or verbal form, or its use, in certain languages:the informaltu in French.
- in-3 + formal1 1595–1605
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged natural, easy.
- 2.See corresponding entry in Unabridged unconventional.
- 3.See corresponding entry in Unabridged See colloquial.
- 2.See corresponding entry in Unabridged conventional.
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