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
Intesa moved swiftly to formalize its offer, while BPM said its approached aimed to open discussions between the two banks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 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
“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
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
Tuesday’s announcement essentially formalizes what has already been happening across the industry this year.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 19, 2023
Feb. 18, 2022: The Fed formalizes a new ethics policy, broadens the scope of what officials can't do and extends the rules to family members.
From Reuters ● Oct. 4, 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
He soon formalized the declaration of war and the war’s objectives in a meeting with the security cabinet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
From the moment the command center had been established at the Rose Bowl, “evacuation operations were not formalized within the incident organization,” according to the report, even as some on-the-ground believed it had been.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
But we did — around the Declaration of Independence and the belief in individual liberty and equality, as formalized in the Bill of Rights.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 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
They wanted the audition process to be formalized.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
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
EQT said it submitted a final proposal with the goal of moving swiftly toward formalizing a recommended offer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
Of note, China has been formalizing a retaliatory option.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
The White House is considering a cybersecurity-focused executive order that could include formalizing a government oversight group to create standards for the most powerful AI models, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
Dangers of formalizing methods of instruction In all of the above discussion it should be clearly remembered that no single plan or no one particular method has the final word or ever will have.
From College Teaching Studies in Methods of Teaching in the College by Paul Klapper
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.
