Formational

Formational is an adjective meaning relating to formation or the act of forming, or to a formation as a unit. It can describe processes that create structure or order, as well as the resulting forms themselves. In scholarly writing, it often appears as part of compound terms such as formational processes, formational boundaries, or formational geology.

In geology, formational is widely used. It relates to a stratigraphic formation—the fundamental unit of lithostratigraphy—describing features, relationships, or processes operating during the formation of sedimentary rocks. For example, formational boundaries delineate where one named formation ends and another begins, and formational history refers to the depositional and tectonic record within a formation.

Elsewhere, formational is used less uniformly. In biology and developmental sciences, it can refer to morphogenesis or the formation of tissues and organs, though more specific terms like morphogenetic or developmental are common. In linguistics and other fields, it can denote form-creation or word-formation processes but is not a frequent technical label. The term remains a descriptive linker rather than a formal discipline.

See also: formation, morphology, morphogenesis, stratigraphy.