formula

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An established form of words or symbols for use in a ceremony or procedure.
• noun An utterance of conventional notions or beliefs; a hackneyed expression.
• noun A method of doing or treating something that relies on an established, uncontroversial model or approach.
• noun A symbolic representation of the composition or of the composition and structure of a compound.
• noun The compound so represented.
• noun A prescription of ingredients in fixed proportion; a recipe.
• noun A liquid food for infants, containing most of the nutrients in human milk.
• noun Mathematics A statement, especially an equation, of a fact, rule, principle, or other logical relation.
• noun Sports A set of specifications, including engine displacement, fuel capacity, and weight, that determine a class of racing car.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In general, a prescribed form or rule; a fixed or conventional method in which anything is to be done, arranged, or said; particularly, a form of words in which something is required by rule or custom to be stated.
• noun Specifically Eccles., a written confession of faith; a formal enunciation or statement of doctrines. See creed, and confession of faith, under confession, 3.
• noun In mathematics, any general equation; a rule or principle expressed in algebraic symbols.
• noun In chem., an expression by means of symbols and figures of the constituents of a compound. See chemical formula, under chemical.
• noun See the qualifying words.
• noun See the adjectives.
• noun various algebraic formulæ devised by the authors whose names are given, to express the quantity of flow of water in term's of length, depth, etc., in a measuring-device.
• noun where , and of any triangle.
• noun The phalangeal formula is 2, 3, 4, 5, 4.
• noun Osborn, The Reptilian Subclasses Diapsida and Synapsida.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A prescribed or set form; an established rule; a fixed or conventional method in which anything is to be done, arranged, or said.
• noun (Eccl.) A written confession of faith; a formal statement of foctrines.
• noun (Math.) A rule or principle expressed in algebraic language.
• noun (Med.) A prescription or recipe for the preparation of a medicinal compound.
• noun (Chem.) A symbolic expression (by means of letters, figures, etc.) of the constituents or constitution of a compound.
• noun (Chem.) an expression which gives the simple proportion of the constituents.
• noun (Chem.) an expression of the constitution, and in a limited sense of the structure, of a compound, by the grouping of its atoms or radicals; ; -- called also structural formula, constitutional formula, etc. See also the formula of Benzene nucleus, under Benzene.
• noun (Chem.) a formula indicating the supposed molecular constitution of a compound.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun mathematics Any mathematical rule expressed symbolically.
• noun chemistry A symbolic expression of the structure of a compound.
• noun A plan of action intended to solve a problem.
• noun A formulation; a prescription; a mixture or solution made in a prescribed manner; the identity and quantities of ingredients of such a mixture.
• noun Drink given to babies to substitute for mother's milk.
• noun logic A syntactic expression of a proposition, built up from quantifiers, logical connectives, variables, relation and operation symbols, and, depending on the type of logic, possibly other operators such as modal, temporal, deontic or epistemic ones.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a liquid food for infants
• noun a conventionalized statement expressing some fundamental principle
• noun something regarded as a normative example
• noun directions for making something
• noun (mathematics) a standard procedure for solving a class of mathematical problems
• noun a representation of a substance using symbols for its constituent elements
• noun a group of symbols that make a mathematical statement