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:
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
Local officials are hopeful the money can help prevent future upticks in land movement and, ideally, formalize a new pathway for additional federal funding to address the city’s ongoing hazards and worsening budget crisis.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
They encouraged him to formalize his camp by making it a Safe Outdoor Space, the very program he’d had a hand in creating barely two years prior.
From Slate ● Mar. 25, 2026
“If we’re committed,” I said, as evenly as I could muster, “why wouldn’t we formalize that commitment? What part of your dignity would be sacrificed by that?”
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Thursday’s agreement formalizes that position, and requires the Justice Department to return or destroy any records that provide personally identifying information moving forward.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 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
But the $120,000 purchase formalizes and guarantees future access.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 14, 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
On Monday, three of the six global soccer confederations formalized their coalition by signing an open letter that called for change at the top of FIFA.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 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
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
The holiday was formalized through an order issued by prominent Civil War general John Alexander Logan External link in 1868.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
At the other end of the spectrum, the Refined tended toward the more formalized ritual, setting up black churches within traditionally white denominations.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
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
The government has taken action to shore up supply, including releasing some of the oil held in emergency storage and a new law formalizing its ability to underwrite additional cargoes of crude and oil products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 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
The post pointed to recent AI-chip export agreements reached in the Middle East as an example and said current discussions are aimed at formalizing that approach.
From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 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.
