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:
The time may have arrived, judging at least from your letter, to formalize the roles family members and employees have in his life, and that comes with accountability.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
The authors recommended that the county update its County Recovery Plan, including a disaster debris plan, as well as formalize a disaster recovery center coordinator position and create a one-stop web platform for post-disaster services.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
Under Irish takeover rules, the two private-equity firms have until Wednesday to formalize the offer or they will be barred from making another approach for six months.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 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
“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
An agreement signed Friday formalizes seven tribes as co-managers of the Clear Lake watershed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026
This shift largely formalizes what the Biden administration had already been doing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 1, 2025
But the $120,000 purchase formalizes and guarantees future access.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 14, 2023
To maintain the benefits of harvesting wild foods, we should take a One Health approach that formalizes the links between medicine and the environment.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 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
There may have been growing competition over resources, control of movement, and more formalized leadership structures.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026
County formalized a local brigade program — which has existed in various forms as guerrilla groups of good Samaritans for decades — in 2023.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 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
Their new science was organized around the virtues of a juge d’instruction: intellectual rigour, a set of formalized procedures, a quest for a complete proof, a confidence that one need only answer to other professionals.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
For larger amounts of down-payment cash that are structured as loans, some parents are formalizing their arrangements.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
To eliminate the Sisyphean task of formalizing all relevant mathematics from scratch every time, the Lean enthusiasts decided to create Mathlib—a library of formalized mathematics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
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
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
Industrialism itself is perhaps but one manifestation of deep impulses in the life of nations; it is at once an intensification and a formalizing of life.
From The Psychology of Nations A Contribution to the Philosophy of History by G.E. Partridge
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
