The key step in Kontsevich's proof of deformation quantization of Poisson manifolds is the so-called formality theorem where 'a formal complex' means that it admits a certain condition. I wonder why it is called 'formal'. I only found the definition of Sullivan in Wikipedia: 'formal manifold is one whose real homotopy type is a formal consequence of its real cohomology ring'. But still I am confused because most of articles I found contain the same sentence only and I cannot understand the meaning of 'formal consequence'. Does anyone know the history of this concept?