FORMULA • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Formula

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/fˈɔrmjələ/ Listen

noun

Formula n. (pl. E. formulas, L. formulae)

1.

A prescribed or set form; an established rule; a fixed or conventional method in which anything is to be done, arranged, or said.

2.

(Eccl.) A written confession of faith; a formal statement of foctrines.

3.

(Math.) A rule or principle expressed in algebraic language; as, the binominal formula.

4.

(Med.) A prescription or recipe for the preparation of a medicinal compound.

5.

(Chem.) A symbolic expression (by means of letters, figures, etc.) of the constituents or constitution of a compound. Note: Chemical formulae consist of the abbreviations of the names of the elements, with a small figure at the lower right hand, to denote the number of atoms of each element contained.

Empirical formula (Chem.), an expression which gives the simple proportion of the constituents; as, the empirical formula of acetic acid is C2H4O2.

Graphic formula, Rational formula (Chem.), an expression of the constitution, and in a limited sense of the structure, of a compound, by the grouping of its atoms or radicals; as, a rational formula of acetic acid is CH3.(C:O).OH; called also structural formula, constitutional formula, etc. See also the formula of Benzene nucleus, under Benzene.

Molecular formula (Chem.), a formula indicating the supposed molecular constitution of a compound.

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Etymology of 'Formula'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Formula" Quotes from Famous Books

... for males ceased to exist—the race was no longer dependent upon them. More ages elapsed until at the present time we find a race consisting exclusively of females. But here is the point. The secret of this chemical formula is kept by a single race of Mahars. It is in the city of Phutra, and unless I am greatly in error I judge from your description of the vaults through which you passed today that it lies hidden in ...

— At the Earth's Core • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... I was a thousand miles from home and felt a million. I shouldn't be surprised if I was a little bit homesick. Anyhow it was Christmas Eve, and it was snowing outside according to the orthodox Christmas Eve formula, and upward of five million other people in New York were getting ready for Christmas without my company, co-operation or assistance. You'd be surprised to know how lonesome you can feel in the midst of five million people—until you try it ...

— Cobb's Bill-of-Fare • Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb

... Douze Medecins at Montpellier, one watchdog was allowed to live in College. Women (p. 090) were often forbidden to enter a college, "quia mulier caput est peccati, arma dyaboli, expulsio paradysi, et corruptio legis antiquae." The College of Saint Ruf at Montpellier, in the statutes of which this formula occurs, did, however, allow women to stand in the Chapel at mass, provided that they did not enter the choir. The monastic institution of Our Lady of Pity at Avignon, went so far as to have a matron ...

— Life in the Medieval University • Robert S. Rait

... pause coming at the same point in the line for more than two lines consecutively. Facts like these are the formal index of what is the great organic principle of Milton's verse. That is, that like all organic structures, it is incalculable; it cannot be reduced to a formula.... His rhythm is perpetually integrating as it advances; and not only so, but at no point can its next movement be predicted, although tracing it backwards we can see how each phrase rises out of and ...

— The Principles of English Versification • Paull Franklin Baum

... a dry assembling of facts and figures, is an increasing revelation of the imagination, the exactness, the thoroughness, and the great progressive plans of God. Evolution has become a spiritual formula. The scientist looks out over the earth and sky and sun and star. Against his little years are meted out vast prehistoric spans; against his mastery of a few forms of life, stands Life itself. Back of all, there looms up the great Figure of the Originator of life, and of the forms of life; ...

— The Warriors • Lindsay, Anna Robertson Brown

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