A formalist is someone who follows that way of putting rules and outer form first: they care a great deal about correct form and how a thing is built, and less about inner meaning or feeling. You can also use formalist as an adjective: a formalist reading of a poem looks at the beat and the structure; a formalist painter cares about shape on the surface. In art and literature classes this is a normal, slightly technical label. In religion or everyday talk it can sound sharper — “Don’t be such a formalist” can mean “stop clinging to the rules and notice what matters”. Though actually, not every formalist is cold: some people love form because they think the meaning lives in the form, not beside it. The word sits next to formalism (the method) the way artist sits next to art. It is not a word for “a formal person in a suit”.

形式主義者；（形容用法）形式主義的