*formation*

n. [ L. conformatio: cf. F. conformation. ] 1. The act of conforming; the act of producing conformity. [ 1913 Webster ]

The conformation of our hearts and lives to the duties of true religion and morality. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being conformed; agreement; hence; structure, as depending on the arrangement of parts; form; arrangement. [ 1913 Webster ]

In Hebrew poetry, there may be observed a certain conformation of the sentences. Lowth. [ 1913 Webster ]

A structure and conformation of the earth. Woodward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. deformatio: cf. F. déformation. ] 1. The act of deforming, or state of anything deformed. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Transformation; change of shape. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. of or pertaining to deformation (in all senses). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The act of giving shape or form. [ Obs. ] Ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. formatio: cf. F. formation. ] 1. The act of giving form or shape to anything; a forming; a shaping. Beattie. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The manner in which a thing is formed; structure; construction; conformation; form; as, the peculiar formation of the heart. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A substance formed or deposited. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Geol.) (a) Mineral deposits and rock masses designated with reference to their origin; as, the siliceous formation about geysers; alluvial formations; marine formations. (b) A group of beds of the same age or period; as, the Eocene formation. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mil.) The arrangement of a body of troops, as in a square, column, etc. Farrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. informatio representation, conception. See Inform, v. t. ] 1. The act of informing, or communicating knowledge or intelligence. [ 1913 Webster ]

The active informations of the intellect. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any fact or set of facts, knowledge, news, or advice, whether communicated by others or obtained by personal study and investigation; any datum that reduces uncertainty about the state of any part of the world; intelligence; knowledge derived from reading, observation, or instruction. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

Larger opportunities of information. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ]

He should get some information in the subject he intends to handle. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) A proceeding in the nature of a prosecution for some offense against the government, instituted and prosecuted, really or nominally, by some authorized public officer on behalf of the government. It differs from an indictment in criminal cases chiefly in not being based on the finding of a grand jury. See Indictment. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Information Theory) A measure of the number of possible choices of messages contained in a symbol, signal, transmitted message, or other information-bearing object; it is usually quantified as the negative logarithm of the number of allowed symbols that could be contained in the message; for logarithms to the base 2, the measure corresponds to the unit of information, the hartley, which is log₂10, or 3.323 bits; called also information content. The smallest unit of information that can be contained or transmitted is the bit, corresponding to a yes-or-no decision. [ PJC ]

5. (Computers) Useful facts, as contrasted with raw data; as, among all this data, there must be some interesting information. [ PJC ]

n. information{ 4 }. [ PJC ]

n. The processing of information, especially by computers, including the organization, distribution, and frequently the analysis of data and the presentation of results in easily understood form. [ PJC ]

n. (Math., Telecommunications) The science which studies the capacity of systems to contain, store, and transmit information{ 2 and 4 }, and the factors such as noise and channel capacity that may affect the rate or accuracy of information transmission and reception. [ PJC ]

n. [ Mal- + conformation. ] Imperfect, disproportionate, or abnormal formation; ill form; disproportion of parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Malconformation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Malformation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Mal- + formation. ] Ill formation; irregular or anomalous formation; abnormal or wrong conformation or structure; -- often used of body parts such as limbs which do not develop properly during fetal maturation. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. Malformation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Untrue or incorrect information. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Biol.) An old theory of the preëxistence of germs. Cf. Emboîtement. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. réformation, L. reformatio. ] 1. The act of reforming, or the state of being reformed; change from worse to better; correction or amendment of life, manners, or of anything vicious or corrupt; as, the reformation of manners; reformation of the age; reformation of abuses. [ 1913 Webster ]

Satire lashes vice into reformation. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Specifically (Eccl. Hist.), the important religious movement commenced by Luther early in the sixteenth century, which resulted in the formation of the various Protestant churches. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Reform; amendment; correction; rectification. -- Reformation, Reform. Reformation is a more thorough and comprehensive change than reform. It is applied to subjects that are more important, and results in changes which are more lasting. A reformation involves, and is followed by, many particular reforms. “The pagan converts mention this great reformation of those who had been the greatest sinners, with that sudden and surprising change which the Christian religion made in the lives of the most profligate.” Addison. “A variety of schemes, founded in visionary and impracticable ideas of reform, were suddenly produced.” Pitt. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of forming anew; a second forming in order; as, the reformation of a column of troops into a hollow square. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. transformatio: cf. transformation. ] The act of transforming, or the state of being transformed; change of form or condition. Specifically: -- [ 1913 Webster ]

(a) (Biol.) Any change in an organism which alters its general character and mode of life, as in the development of the germ into the embryo, the egg into the animal, the larva into the insect (metamorphosis), etc.; also, the change which the histological units of a tissue are prone to undergo. See Metamorphosis. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

(b) (Physiol.) Change of one from of material into another, as in assimilation; metabolism; metamorphosis. [ 1913 Webster ]

(c) (Alchemy) The imagined possible or actual change of one metal into another; transmutation. [ 1913 Webster ]

(d) (Theol.) A change in disposition, heart, character, or the like; conversion. [ 1913 Webster ]

(e) (Math.) The change, as of an equation or quantity, into another form without altering the value. [ 1913 Webster ]