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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

format.

The layout of a publication or document.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈfɔː(ɹ).mæt/UK/ˈfɔːɹ.mæt/US
  1. The layout of a publication or document.

  2. The form of presentation of something.

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

    The radio station changed the format of its evening program.
  4. A file type.

Where this word comes from

Via French format and German Format, from New Latin liber fōrmātus (“book fashioned”), from fōrmō (“to shape, fashion”).

verb/ˈfɔː(ɹ).mæt/UK/ˈfɔːɹ.mæt/US
  1. To create or edit the layout of a document.

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

  3. To prepare a mass storage medium for initial use, erasing any existing data in the process.

    I lost weeks of work when I inadvertently formatted my hard drive.
Where this word comes from

Via French format and German Format, from New Latin liber fōrmātus (“book fashioned”), from fōrmō (“to shape, fashion”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.