Meanings
- datedformaluncountableBeauty.
[…] he left not many trees behind him, before he diſcovered mounted upon a black Palfrey a Damſell of exquiſite formoſity, urged with ſorrow making towards him : […]
1647, Robert Baron, Εροτεπαιγνnοn of the Cyprian Academy, London: […] W. W., page 84 more examples
In vaine therefore it is to beate our braines, To frame that Forme, that fram'd all Formes that are, And yet himſelfe a formeleſſe Forme remaines, That in Formoſity is past compare, His glory is ſo great, his grace ſo rare!
1602, John Davies [i.e., John Davies of Hereford], Mirum in modum. A Glimpſe of Gods Glorie and the Soules Shape, London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for VVilliam Aspley, page 38A. The Schoolemen affirme; God for his exceeding formoſity and beauty,Sinne for the exceeding deformitie and loathſomneſſe , the firſt matter for the exceeding informitie and inexiſtency.
1620, William Basse, A Helpe to Discovrse. Or a Miſcelany of Merriment, London: […] N. O. for Leonard Becker, page 94 Louingly alike affianced and eſpouſed: Moſes married Zipporah the daughter of Iethro the Ethiopian,and therefore blacke, yet fruitfull, for ſhe bare vnto Moſes two ſons, Gerſhon and Eleaſer : ſo Chriſt hath affianced himſelfe to the Church; who if ſhe want externall formoſity, yet not fecundity, for ſhe bringeth forth many children vnto God.
1629, Theophilus Taylor, The Mappe of Moſes, or, a Gvide for Governovrs, London: […] Thomas Harper, page 3His own education was ordinary, his breeding provincially constricted: but he had (with singular personal formosity) an extraordinary faculty of appreciation and an inchanting sense of obligation.
1993, Frederick Rolfe, chapter XIX, in The Desire & Pursuit of the Whole, Quartet Books, page 200
Origin
- Latinfōrmōsitās“beauty”
- Old Frenchformosité
- Middle Englishformosite
- Englishformosity
From Late Middle English formosite, formosyte, from Old French formosité, from Latin fōrmōsitās (“beauty”). Cognate to French formosité, Scots formosite.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with formosity
Cite this entry
formosity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/formosity
“formosity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/formosity. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “formosity,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/formosity.
Source: formosity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.