informalism

English

Etymology

informal +‎ -ism

Noun

informalism (countable and uncountable, plural informalisms)

1. A word, phrase, behaviour, etc. that is informal.
   • 2003, Alan Partington, The Linguistics of Political Argument, page 213:

     At other times, in complete contrast, as noted elsewhere (Section 7.3), there is frequent recourse to slang and informalisms. Speech style in this sense is closely connected to footing.

   • 2006, Robert L. Glass, Tom DeMarco, Software Creativity 2.0, page 236:

     The reason we don't, he said, is because our educational system has swung too far in the direction of formal methods and has neglected such informalisms as common sense and natural language communication.

2. An art movement based on abstract and gestural tendencies rather than definite form.