From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Informal \In*form"al\, adjective [Pref. in- not + formal.]
1. Not in the regular, usual, or established form; not according to official, conventional, prescribed, or customary forms or rules; irregular; hence, without ceremony; as, an informal writing, proceeding, or visit.
2. Deranged in mind; out of one's senses. [Obs.]
These poor informal women. --Shak.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: not formal; "conservative people unaccustomed to informal dress"; "an informal free-and-easy manner"; "an informal gathering of friends" [ant: {formal}]
2: not officially recognized or controlled; "an informal agreement"; "a loose organization of the local farmers" [syn: {loose}]
3: used of spoken and written language [ant: {formal}]
4: having or fostering a warm or friendly atmosphere; especially through smallness and informality; "had a cozy chat"; "a relaxed informal manner"; "an intimate cocktail lounge"; "the small room was cozy and intimate" [syn: {cozy}, {intimate}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
108 Moby Thesaurus words for "informal": Bohemian, affable, beat, beat-up, bedraggled, blowzy, breakaway, careless, casual, chintzy, colloquial, common, conversational, cordial, degage, dilapidated, drabbletailed, draggled, draggletailed, easy, easygoing, en deshabille, everyday, familiar, far out, folksy, free, free and easy, fringy, frowzy, frumpish, frumpy, garden-variety, gracious, grubby, haymish, heretical, heterodox, hippie, homely, homey, in dishabille, in rags, irregular, kinky, loose, lumpen, maverick, messy, mussy, natural, negligent, nonstandard, not cricket, not done, not kosher, offbeat, offhand, offhanded, ordinary, original, plain, poky, private, ragged, raggedy, relaxed, ruinous, scraggly, seedy, shabby, shoddy, simple, slack, slatternly, slipshod, sloppy, slovenly, sluttish, sociable, sordid, special, spoken, spontaneous, sporty, squalid, substandard, tacky, tattered, unaffected, unassuming, unauthorized, unceremonious, unconstrained, unconventional, uneducated, unfashionable, unkempt, unliterary, unneat, unofficial, unorthodox, unpretentious, unsightly, unstudied, untidy, vernacular, way out
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