informal

See also: informál

English

Etymology

From in- +‎ formal.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfɔɹm(ə)l/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈfɔːm(ə)l/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧for‧mal
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)məl

Adjective

informal (comparative more informal, superlative most informal)

1. Not formal or ceremonious.

   an informal get-together

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter III, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.

   • 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 4:

     Students and faculty members lunch at the cafeteria and naturally communicate freely with one another in a relaxed and informal setting.

2. Not in accord with the usual regulations.

   an informal agreement

3. Suited for everyday use.

   informal clothes

4. (of language) Reflecting everyday, non-ceremonious usage.
   • 2025 August 14, Saranka Maheswaran, “Cheer up, Ice Cube, your War of the Worlds movie may be really bad, but it’s not worthless”, in The Guardian‎:

     When I returned to the movie Ghilli, a Kollywood classic (Kollywood being the informal name for Tamil cinema) that I loved as a kid, I couldn’t help but question why the story continues romantically, without question, after the heroine is slapped by the supposed love of her life.

5. (horticulture) Not organized; not structured or planned.

Synonyms

• (not formal or ceremonious): casual
• (not in accord with the usual regulations): unofficial
• (suited for everyday use): casual
• (language: reflecting everyday, non-ceremonious usage): colloquial

Antonyms

• formal

Derived terms

• informal fallacy
• informal group
• informalism
• informalist
• informality
• informalize
• informal learning
• informal logic
• informally
• informal settler
• informalwear
• semi-informal
• superinformal

Translations

not formal or ceremonious

Belarusian: нефарма́льны (njefarmálʹny), неафіцы́йны (njeaficýjny) Bulgarian: неформа́лен (neformálen), неофициа́лен (bg) (neoficiálen) Catalan: informal (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 非正式 (zh) (fēizhèngshì) Czech: neformální (cs) Esperanto: neformala Finnish: epämuodollinen (fi) French: informel (fr) Galician: informal (gl) Georgian: არაფორმალური (arapormaluri) German: informell (de), unförmlich, zwanglos (de) Greek: φιλικός (el) (filikós) Hindi: अनौपचारिक (anaupcārik) Hungarian: közvetlen (hu) Icelandic: óformlegur (is) Irish: neamhnósúil Italian: informale (it) Japanese: 非公式の (ja) (hikōshiki no), 日常の (ja) (nichijō no), 普段の (ja) (fudan no), 褻の (ja) (ke no) Kazakh: бейресми (beiresmi) Malay: informal Manx: neuformoil Maori: ōpaki, hāramuramu Norwegian: Bokmål: uhøytidelig Occitan: informal (oc) Polish: potoczny (pl), nieformalny (pl) Portuguese: informal (pt) Romanian: informal (ro) Russian: неформа́льный (ru) (neformálʹnyj), неофициа́льный (ru) (neoficiálʹnyj), непринуждённый (ru) (neprinuždjónnyj) Spanish: informal (es) Swedish: informell (sv) Tagalog: dimaanyo Thai: ไม่เป็นทางการ Turkish: teklifsiz (tr) Ukrainian: неформа́льний (neformálʹnyj), неофіці́йний (neoficíjnyj) Welsh: anffurfiol (cy)

not in accord with the usual regulations

Bulgarian: безцеремо́нен (bg) (bezceremónen) Chinese: Mandarin: 非正式 (zh) (fēizhèngshì) Finnish: epämuodollinen (fi), epävirallinen (fi) French: informel (fr) German: inoffiziell (de) Hindi: अनौपचारिक (anaupcārik) Italian: informale (it), non officiale Japanese: 非公式の (ja) (hikōshiki no), 内々の (ja) (uchiuchi no) Malay: informal Spanish: informal (es) Tagalog: dimaanyo Turkish: gayriresmî (tr)

language: reflecting everyday, non-ceremonious usage

Belarusian: размо́ўны (razmóŭny) Bulgarian: разгово́рен (bg) (razgovóren) Chinese: Mandarin: 俗 (zh) (sú) Finnish: arkikielinen (fi) French: informel (fr), familier (fr) Greek: ανεπίσημος (el) (anepísimos) Italian: informale (it), colloquiale (it), familiare (it) Japanese: 口語の (ja) (kōgo no) Macedonian: разговорен (razgovoren) Malay: informal, percakapan Romanian: popular (ro) Russian: разгово́рный (ru) (razgovórnyj) Spanish: familiar (es) Turkish: senli benli (tr), teklifsiz (tr) Ukrainian: розмо́вний (rozmóvnyj)

Anagrams

• formalin

Catalan

Etymology

From in- +‎ formal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [iɱ.furˈmal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [iɱ.forˈmal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [iɱ.foɾˈmal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

informal m or f (masculine and feminine plural informals)

1. informal

Derived terms

• informalment

Further reading

• “informal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Galician

Adjective

informal m or f (plural informais)

1. informal

   Antonym: formal

Derived terms

• informalmente

Further reading

• “informal”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

Malay

Etymology

From English informal. By surface analysis, in- +‎ formal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [in.fɔ(r).məl], [in.fo(r).mal]
• Rhymes: -əl, -al
• Hyphenation: in‧for‧mal

Adjective

informal (Jawi spelling اينفورمل)

1. Not formal; informal.

Further reading

• “informal” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩ.foʁˈmaw/ [ĩ.foɦˈmaʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩ.foʁˈmaw/ [ĩ.foɦˈmaʊ̯]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ĩ.foɾˈmaw/ [ĩ.foɾˈmaʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ĩ.foʁˈmaw/ [ĩ.foʁˈmaʊ̯]
  • (Porto Alegre) IPA^(key): /ĩ.foɻˈmaw/ [ĩ.foɻˈmaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩ.fuɾˈmal/ [ĩ.fuɾˈmaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩ.fuɾˈmal/ [ĩ.fuɾˈmaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩ.fuɾˈma.li/

• Hyphenation: in‧for‧mal

Adjective

informal m or f (plural informais)

1. informal (not formal or ceremonious)

Derived terms

• informalmente

Further reading

• “informal” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English informal or French informel.

Adjective

informal m or n (feminine singular informală, masculine plural informali, feminine and neuter plural informale)

1. informal

Declension

Declension of informal

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	informal		informală		informali	informale
	definite	informalul		informala		informalii	informalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	informal		informale		informali	informale
	definite	informalului		informalei		informalilor	informalelor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /infoɾˈmal/ [ĩɱ.foɾˈmal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: in‧for‧mal

Adjective

informal m or f (masculine and feminine plural informales)

1. informal

   Antonym: formal

Derived terms

• falacia formal
• informalidad
• informalmente

Further reading

• “informal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Anagrams

• filmaron