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format

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The layout of a publication or document.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

fawrmat

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfɔɹmæt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The layout of a publication or document.

  2. by extension

    The form of presentation of something.

  3. radio

    The type of programming that a radio station broadcasts; such as a certain genre of music, news, sports, talk, etc.

verb

  1. To create or edit the layout of a document.

  2. Change a document so it will fit onto a different type of page.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

More ways to use format

  • “Please format this disk before entering data!”verb
  • “Format this letter so it can be printed out.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

General

general format

File

file format

Set

print format

Other combinations

data formatinsert formatstandard formatformat menufollowing format

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • formattingnounInflected form

    The organization of information according to preset specifications (usually for computer processing).

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • formativenounDerived noun

    Minimal language unit that has a syntactic (or morphological) function.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • formatted capacitynounCompound term

    The usable capacity of a disk drive.

  • high-level formattingnounCompound term

    The format for the root directory and the file allocation tables and other basic configurations.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.