format

1. 1

   The layout of a publication or document.

   • The older manuscripts had been written in a much larger format than that found convenient for university work.
2. 2

   The form of presentation of something.broadly

3. 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. 4

   A file type.

1. 1

   To create or edit the layout of a document.

2. 2

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

3. 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.

syn. initialize