formalize
Americanverb (used with object)
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formalizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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formalized,
past participle, past
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formalizing
present participle
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to make formal, especially for the sake of official or authorized acceptance.
to formalize an understanding by drawing up a legal contract.
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to give a definite form or shape to.
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to state or restate (the rules or implied rules of a grammar or the like) in symbolic form.
verb
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to be or make formal
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(tr) to make official or valid
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(tr) to give a definite shape or form to
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logic to extract the logical form of (an expression), to express in the symbols of some formal system
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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formalizesimple
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formalizessimple
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have formalizedperfect
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has formalizedperfect
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am formalizingprogressive
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are formalizingprogressive
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is formalizingprogressive
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have been formalizingperfect progressive
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has been formalizingperfect progressive
Past
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formalizedsimple
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had formalizedperfect
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was formalizingprogressive
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were formalizingprogressive
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had been formalizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of formalize
Explanation
To formalize something is to give it an official kind of status, like when you formalize an agreement by signing a contract. Two people can formalize their love and commitment to each other by getting married, and your grandparents can formalize their plan to leave their money to a certain charity by writing a will. In fact, one good way to formalize almost anything is to draw up a legal document. This verb comes from formal and its root that means "a shape or a form."
Vocabulary lists containing formalize
Content Summary 2.3: Greek and Hellenistic States in the Classical Mediterranean
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The Classical Period, c. 600 BCE to c. 600 CE
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The Postclassical Period, c. 600 CE to c. 1450
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But it would formalize the country’s control over what had been an open international waterway before the war, one that carried a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Their results, presented at a visualization science conference, formalize Schrödinger's model of color and show that these familiar color qualities are built into the structure of color perception itself.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 7, 2026
The mechanism, as described by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, would help formalize and identify what goods the United States should export to and import from China.
From Barron's ● May 8, 2026
The process of deciding whether and how to formalize a shift in the Fed’s guidance could fall to Warsh, who might see the question differently.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
He promised he’d formalize the relationship when the time was right.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
“This center formalizes and elevates the Tar Pits’ role as the world’s leading hub for Ice Age research,” Bettison-Varga said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026
This shift largely formalizes what the Biden administration had already been doing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 1, 2025
While the executive order formalizes a parallel overlay of the federal government in the form of Musk's DOGE, it still does not clearly define its legal status.
From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2025
The new initiative, announced at the Bloomberg CityLab conference in Washington on Wednesday, formalizes a process that CityLab has used for years.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 18, 2023
He who formalizes on everything is a fool, and a grave fool is perhaps more injurious than a light fool.—Cecil.
From Pearls of Thought by Maturin Murray Ballou
His appointment as premier, which will be formalized by King Charles at Buckingham Palace on Monday, marks the climax of a steep ascent for a politician who until last month wasn’t even a lawmaker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Elora Mukherjee: The metering policy was first implemented by DHS in 2016 and then it was formalized into written guidance in 2018.
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2026
The tech titan formalized integration with Alphabet-owned Gemini, accelerating its AI capability without waiting for in-house models, and advanced its hybrid AI architecture, the analysts wrote Tuesday.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
Since the Waters center formalized the partnership in 2021, one other adult school has adopted the arrangement and a second will do so soon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
Internal conflict resolution within states has become increasingly formalized by laws, a judiciary, and police.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Abreu lobbied to make El Sistema part of the Venezuelan government, formalizing music education as a human right.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Anthropic is formalizing its Claude Partner Network—a program for third-party sellers of its AI products—in a move that executives say will help it demonstrate business-readiness as it inches closer to an initial public offering.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
That streak may end this Wednesday as the Scott Bessent-led department is expected to update this language in its policy statement, formalizing the “preliminary” considerations for hikes mentioned in the previous announcement.
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
And it just seemed like we were so clearly making a bunch of choices, specifically not to let profit be the motivation, that it started to seem very silly that we weren’t just formalizing this.
From Slate ● Mar. 22, 2026
Heine had resorted to the formalizing of their union under the pressure of one of those circumstances which compel a man to think more of a woman than of an idea.
From Old Love Stories Retold by Richard Le Gallienne
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
