Dictionary entry details
• FORMATION (noun)
Meaning:
An arrangement of people or things acting as a unit
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Context examples:
a defensive formation / a formation of planes
Hypernyms ("formation" is a kind of...):
arrangement (an orderly grouping (of things or persons) considered as a unit; the result of arranging)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "formation"):
rear (the back of a military formation or procession)
head (the front of a military formation or procession)
flank; wing (the side of military or naval formation)
center (the middle of a military or naval formation)
line (a formation of people or things one beside another)
line (a formation of people or things one behind another)
secondary (the defensive football players who line up behind the linemen)
backfield (the offensive football players who line up behind the linemen)
military formation (a formation of troops)
flight (a formation of aircraft in flight)
Meaning:
A particular spatial arrangement
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("formation" is a kind of...):
arrangement; placement (the spatial property of the way in which something is placed)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "formation"):
split ((tenpin bowling) a divided formation of pins left standing after the first bowl)
rig; rigging (formation of masts, spars, sails, etc., on a vessel)
raster (the rectangular formation of parallel scanning lines that guide the electron beam on a television screen or a computer monitor)
Meaning:
The fabrication of something in a particular shape
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
shaping; formation
Hypernyms ("formation" is a kind of...):
fabrication; manufacture (the act of making something (a product) from raw materials)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "formation"):
turning (the activity of shaping something on a lathe)
grooving; rifling (the cutting of spiral grooves on the inside of the barrel of a firearm)
granulation (the act of forming something into granules or grains)
metalwork; metalworking (the activity of making things out of metal in a skillful manner)
forging (shaping metal by heating and hammering)
filing (the act of using a file (as in shaping or smoothing an object))
Meaning:
The act of forming something
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
establishment; constitution; formation; organization; organisation
Context examples:
the constitution of a PTA group last year / it was the establishment of his reputation / he still remembers the organization of the club
Hypernyms ("formation" is a kind of...):
beginning; commencement; start (the act of starting something)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "formation"):
unionisation; unionization (act of forming labor unions)
collectivisation; collectivization (the organization of a nation or economy on the basis of collectivism)
communisation; communization (the organization of a nation of the basis of communism)
federation (the act of constituting a political unity out of a number of separate states or colonies or provinces so that each member retains the management of its internal affairs)
colonisation; colonization; settlement (the act of colonizing; the establishment of colonies)
Meaning:
(geology) the geological features of the earth
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Synonyms:
geological formation; formation
Hypernyms ("formation" is a kind of...):
object; physical object (a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow)
Domain category:
geology (a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "formation"):
ridge; ridgeline (a long narrow range of hills)
relict (geological feature that is a remnant of a pre-existing formation after other parts have disappeared)
chain; chain of mountains; mountain chain; mountain range; range; range of mountains (a series of hills or mountains)
fountain; natural spring; outflow; outpouring; spring (a natural flow of ground water)
oceanfront (land bordering an ocean)
ridge (a long narrow natural elevation on the floor of the ocean)
shore (the land along the edge of a body of water)
incline; side; slope (an elevated geological formation)
scree; talus (a sloping mass of loose rocks at the base of a cliff)
mineral vein; vein (a layer of ore between layers of rock)
crater; volcanic crater (a bowl-shaped geological formation at the top of a volcano)
wall (a vertical (or almost vertical) smooth rock face (as of a cave or mountain))
groundwater level; water level; water table (underground surface below which the ground is wholly saturated with water)
elevation; natural elevation (a raised or elevated geological formation)
depression; natural depression (a sunken or depressed geological formation)
aquifer (underground bed or layer yielding ground water for wells and springs etc)
beach (an area of sand sloping down to the water of a sea or lake)
cave (a geological formation consisting of an underground enclosure with access from the surface of the ground or from the sea)
cliff; drop; drop-off (a steep high face of rock)
delta (a low triangular area where a river divides before entering a larger body of water)
diapir (a domed rock formation where a core of rock has moved upward and pierced through the more brittle overlying strata)
folium (a thin layer or stratum of (especially metamorphic) rock)
foreshore (the part of the seashore between the highwater mark and the low-water mark)
ice mass (a large mass of ice)
lakefront (land bordering a lake)
massif (a block of the earth's crust bounded by faults and shifted to form peaks of a mountain range)
monocline (a geological formation in which all strata are inclined in the same direction)
mouth (the point where a stream issues into a larger body of water)
Instance hyponyms:
Pillars of Hercules (the two promontories at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar; according to legend they were formed by Hercules)
Meaning:
Natural process that causes something to form
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Context examples:
the formation of gas in the intestine / the formation of crystals / the formation of pseudopods
Hypernyms ("formation" is a kind of...):
action; activity; natural action; natural process (a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "formation"):
encrustation; incrustation (the formation of a crust)
reticulation ((photography) the formation of a network of cracks or wrinkles in a photographic emulsion)
Meaning:
Creation by mental activity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Context examples:
the formation of sentences / the formation of memories
Hypernyms ("formation" is a kind of...):
creating by mental acts (the act of creating something by thinking)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "formation"):
affixation (formation of a word by means of an affix)
