The phrase "a formal table" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a table that is set up in a formal manner, often for events like dinners, meetings, or ceremonies.
Example: "The banquet hall was beautifully decorated, with a formal table set for the guests of honor."
Alternatives: "an elegant table" or "a sophisticated table".
Its bowl form hints gently but sensually at female anatomy, with a crotchlike indentation so suave that the bowl could be placed on a formal table.
"Here you have a whole culture in which girls are told to hide their bodies, not to be proud of their bodies," she said, eating whatever was placed before her at a formal table.
When it comes to setting the table, though, such breeziness is difficult to harness; it's simpler to set a formal table than it is to put out the disparate things we actually own, and find some method in the madness.
Follow our easy-to-use cheat sheet for setting a formal table.
Friday nights were lovely: a formal table setting, slow sips of the sickly sweet Manischewitz wine, eating challah 'til it hurt, nibbling on roast chicken and cranberry sauce and the anticipation of what my mom would give us for dessert.
Decide if you want a formal table or an informal table.
In front of various standing flags, the three generals and two civilian members of the Mississippi River Commission sit at a large formal table, with General Sands in the central position.
Because these are easy to eat while standing or seated away from a table, setting a formal dining table is not required.
George, a Tunisian guy who's lived in London for over 20 years and is a regular here, sits and eats rice and peas from a Tupperware container at the quaintly formal table (complete with white cloth) in the entrance hall.
Carlos Placee 60 Clinton Street, Sleepy Hollow (914 332-0134 GOOD Atmosphere -- Formal table appointments in an old-fashioned simple but cozy dining room.
For one installation, he coaxed a family gospel group, the Spiritual Knights, to pose around a formal dining table, recreating the cover of a Mahalia Jackson album, "Bless This House".
