formality

plural formalities

1. uncountableThe state of being formal.

   [S]uch an one […] recalls as a vision of Paradise the land he has learnt to love; he exaggerates the insalubrity of a northern climate; he bewails the wretched formality of our civilised life, and so, back to the distant solitudes flies his recollection like a dove to the wilderness.

   1874, Georg August Schweinfurth, chapter I, in Ellen E. Frewer, transl., The Heart of Africa: Three Years' Travels and Adventures in the Unexplored Regions of Central Africa, from 1868 to 1871, second edition, volume I, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, And Searle, translation of Im Herzen von Afrika, Botanical Ardour

2. countableuncountableSomething said or done as a matter of form.
3. countableuncountableA customary ritual without substance, real consequence, or unique meaning.

   The examination for priesthood is no mere formality, so we have to study well.

4. countableA specific requirement for obtaining a legal status, conducting a transaction, etc.

   I expected some sort of formality before they let me see the crown—so valuable—but there was really nothing at all. I just said, "Can I see No. 64, please?" and he simply pulled one of the shallow drawers out of its case and put it down before me on the table.

   1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries