formalize
Americanverb (used with object)
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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
And while the would-be uprising had been resolved, it did succeed in pressing Ned to formalize a succession plan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 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
The mechanism would help to formalize and identify what kinds of goods the United States should be exporting to and importing from China, he said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 22, 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
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
The announcement formalizes conversations about when Biden will make his first trip as president to the United States’ northern neighbor.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 9, 2023
It widens the scope of history, and more precisely formalizes its functions.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 17, No. 097, January, 1876 by Various
Six years later, then Gov. Andrew Cuomo formalized the ban.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 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
Then, in February, the administration formalized the rollback of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, in effect making the exemptions permanent.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
They wanted the audition process to be formalized.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
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
“It’s more complicated now because China has moved toward formalizing these rules. The threat is omnipresent and it’s sometimes used in unforeseen ways.”
From Barron's ● Apr. 27, 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
That’s essentially formalizing what’s already happening this year at platforms like Coinbase and Robinhood.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 14, 2026
The best results have been obtained not by formalizing scouting, but by supplementing and vitalizing the book work by the practical activities of the scout program.
From Educational Work of the Boy Scouts by Barclay, Lorne W. (Lorne Webster)
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.
