The wire had been twisted twice and then pulled through itself, a casual knot for such a formal purpose.

He was, for formal purposes, the governor of Lahore, and was so recognized.

For formal purposes, urban areas having at least 200 inhabitants are counted as "by".

Weekes appears to have used his middle name, William, for all but formal purposes.

For this one night a year, it had a formal purpose.

Its formal purpose was to strengthen consultation between Whitehall and town and county halls.

The former met rarely and for purely formal purposes.

Such a high number is no measure of usage, but it does suggest the extent to which the language adopted Sanskrit words for formal purposes.

The formal purpose of the conference was to explore how technology is changing the world of business.

And the repetition of the conventional motif makes you wonder if some other purposes, formal or conceptual, might be in play (Johnson).