1 She would not visit her own family, except as a formality, and then as briefly as decency permitted.

2 This should been done as a formality.

3 It's important not to think of the quarter-final as a formality, " Mickey adds. "Poor teams don't reach this stage of the competition.

4 Token review - Doing the review as a formality just because the management intends to get it done.

5 Supporters of same-sex marriage praised the stark language of the opinion and said they regard the delay as a formality.

6 After all, totalitarian power has been fed and weaned and to this day is imbued with the intolerant spirit of this ideology, which sees plurality only as a necessary evil, or as a formality.

7 WorldCom. None of the companies concerned is particularly active or debt-laden and the beleaguered company describes the filing as a formality to enable it to administer its whole business in one go.