| formation | | |
| n. (group) | 1. formation | an arrangement of people or things acting as a unit.; "a defensive formation"; "a formation of planes" |
| ~ arrangement | an orderly grouping (of things or persons) considered as a unit; the result of arranging.; "a flower arrangement" |
| ~ flight | a formation of aircraft in flight. |
| ~ military formation | a formation of troops. |
| ~ backfield | the offensive football players who line up behind the linemen. |
| ~ secondary | the defensive football players who line up behind the linemen. |
| ~ line | a formation of people or things one behind another.; "the line stretched clear around the corner"; "you must wait in a long line at the checkout counter" |
| ~ line | a formation of people or things one beside another.; "the line of soldiers advanced with their bayonets fixed"; "they were arrayed in line of battle"; "the cast stood in line for the curtain call" |
| ~ center | the middle of a military or naval formation.; "they had to reinforce the center" |
| ~ flank, wing | the side of military or naval formation.; "they attacked the enemy's right flank" |
| ~ head | the front of a military formation or procession.; "the head of the column advanced boldly"; "they were at the head of the attack" |
| ~ rear | the back of a military formation or procession.; "infantrymen were in the rear" |
| n. (act) | 2. formation, shaping | the act of fabricating something in a particular shape. |
| ~ manufacturing, manufacture, fabrication | the act of making something (a product) from raw materials.; "the synthesis and fabrication of single crystals"; "an improvement in the manufacture of explosives"; "manufacturing is vital to Great Britain" |
| ~ filing | the act of using a file (as in shaping or smoothing an object). |
| ~ forging | shaping metal by heating and hammering. |
| ~ metalworking, metalwork | the activity of making things out of metal in a skillful manner. |
| ~ granulation | the act of forming something into granules or grains.; "the granulation of medicines" |
| ~ grooving, rifling | the cutting of spiral grooves on the inside of the barrel of a firearm. |
| ~ turning | the activity of shaping something on a lathe. |
| n. (act) | 3. constitution, establishment, formation, organisation, organization | the act of forming or establishing something.; "the constitution of a PTA group last year"; "it was the establishment of his reputation"; "he still remembers the organization of the club" |
| ~ commencement, beginning, start | the act of starting something.; "he was responsible for the beginning of negotiations" |
| ~ unionisation, unionization | act of forming labor unions.; "the issue underlying the strike was unionization" |
| ~ 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.; "the British colonization of America" |
| n. (object) | 4. formation, geological formation | (geology) the geological features of the earth. |
| ~ object, physical object | a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow.; "it was full of rackets, balls and other objects" |
| ~ geology | a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks. |
| ~ 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-off, drop | a steep high face of rock.; "he stood on a high cliff overlooking the town"; "a steep drop" |
| ~ delta | a low triangular area of alluvial deposits where a river divides before entering a larger body of water.; "the Mississippi River delta"; "the Nile delta" |
| ~ 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.; "New York is at the mouth of the Hudson" |
| ~ natural depression, depression | a sunken or depressed geological formation. |
| ~ natural elevation, elevation | a raised or elevated geological formation. |
| ~ oceanfront | land bordering an ocean. |
| ~ pillars of hercules | the two promontories at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar; according to legend they were formed by Hercules. |
| ~ chain of mountains, mountain chain, mountain range, range of mountains, range, chain | a series of hills or mountains.; "the valley was between two ranges of hills"; "the plains lay just beyond the mountain range" |
| ~ relict | geological feature that is a remnant of a pre-existing formation after other parts have disappeared. |
| ~ ridgeline, ridge | a long narrow range of hills. |
| ~ ridge | a long narrow natural elevation on the floor of the ocean. |
| ~ shore | the land along the edge of a body of water. |
| ~ incline, slope, side | an elevated geological formation.; "he climbed the steep slope"; "the house was built on the side of a mountain" |
| ~ natural spring, outpouring, fountain, outflow, spring | a natural flow of ground water. |
| ~ 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 table, water level | underground surface below which the ground is wholly saturated with water.; "spring rains had raised the water table" |
| n. (artifact) | 5. formation | a particular spatial arrangement. |
| ~ raster | the rectangular formation of parallel scanning lines that guide the electron beam on a television screen or a computer monitor. |
| ~ rigging, rig | formation of masts, spars, sails, etc., on a vessel. |
| ~ split | (tenpin bowling) a divided formation of pins left standing after the first bowl.; "he was winning until he got a split in the tenth frame" |
| ~ placement, arrangement | the spatial property of the way in which something is placed.; "the arrangement of the furniture"; "the placement of the chairs" |
| n. (process) | 6. formation | natural process that causes something to form.; "the formation of gas in the intestine"; "the formation of crystals"; "the formation of pseudopods" |
| ~ encrustation, incrustation | the formation of a crust. |
| ~ natural action, natural process, action, activity | a process existing in or produced by nature (rather than by the intent of human beings).; "the action of natural forces"; "volcanic activity" |
| ~ reticulation | (photography) the formation of a network of cracks or wrinkles in a photographic emulsion. |
| n. (act) | 7. formation | creation by mental activity.; "the formation of sentences"; "the formation of memories" |
| ~ creating by mental acts | the act of creating something by thinking. |
| ~ affixation | formation of a word by means of an affix. |
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