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formalistic

Example Sentences

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The argument advanced by the IRS is a formalistic one that results in an absurdity: Cryptocurrency wasn’t explicitly included in the list of items that meet the “readily valued property” exemption to the appraisal rules.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 5, 2026

Kabalevsky succumbed to Stalin’s decrees against formalistic art, and he has never been taken seriously in the West.

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 29, 2025

As a filmmaker, Hogg is a seemingly incongruous blend of free-flowing and formalistic.

From Seattle Times Oct. 27, 2021

The details in Shum’s memoir also highlight the limitations of more formalistic analysis of China’s political system.

From Washington Post Oct. 13, 2021

There will thus be a formalistic series of errors: asceticism, sentimentalism, anarchism, mysticism; and a materialistic series: overindulgence, sordidness, bigotry or egoism, worldliness.

From The Moral Economy by Perry, Ralph Barton