semiformal

1 5.1

Clothing or style for events that is nicer than casual but not very dressy

adjective
/ˌsɛmɪˈfɔrməl/

: semiformal

She chose a beautiful dress for the semiformal event, which was neither too fancy nor too casual.
semiformal attire

Examples

The president's banquet, a semiformal occasion of dinner and celebration, is the final networking and social event at each AEC.

Academic text (2002)
The dance was semiformal, and Josie had on her comfortable loafers and soft white cotton socks rolled three times at the ankle.

Fiction book (1990)
Research is often first presented to a peer group in abstract form at an annual meeting; this semiformal information-sharing venue is a critical medium for the communication of new concepts and enables the presentation of novel or confirmatory information to glean peer feedback.

Academic text (2012)
For the wedding, the dress code is semiformal, so guests should wear suits or nice dresses.
At the semiformal gathering, attendees wore dress shirts and slacks instead of tuxedos.

Synonyms

semi-formal

vssemiformal

1 3.8

Clothing style more dressy than casual but not as dressy as for very special events

has identical meaning but is written with a hyphen

Antonyms

informal

98 3.1

Not formal or official, relaxed and casual

casual

81 1.3

Suitable for everyday wear rather than formal occasions

How Formal

black-tie

Formal

11 4.4

formal

Formal

394 3.0

semiformal

1 5.1

casual

81 1.3

Surface Forms

semiformal positive

semiformaler comparative

semiformalest superlative

Morphology

semiformal = formal (transparent) = semi + formal

The meaning is a straightforward combination of 'semi-' meaning partly and 'formal' meaning following conventional etiquette.

Etymology

Semiformal is made of semi- meaning 'half' or 'partly' and formal meaning 'proper' or 'official'. So it describes a style or event that is 'partly formal', more dressed up than casual but not fully formal.