formulaic

[fawr-myuh-ley-ik]

adjective

1. made according to a formula; composed of formulas.

   a formulaic plot.

2. being or constituting a formula.

   formulaic instructions.

Other Word Forms

• formulaically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of formulaic¹

First recorded in 1880–85; formula + -ic

Example Sentences

Fire-resilient buildings don’t have to be soulless, formulaic bunkers, according to the student designers of the Resilient Futures Lab, a summer studio at Pasadena’s ArtCenter College.

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Ancient inscriptions tend to be formulaic so historians can often infer what the missing part of a sentence goes on to say.

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Trainspotting's success came in part he says at a time when people were willing to read more challenging, less formulaic books.

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Two of his victims took their own lives some years before the trial - a fact which he acknowledged in court with the same penitent but formulaic apology that he's offered to everyone else.

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She’s gotten no explanation beyond that one, formulaic March 10 email dispatched to the university.

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Related Words

• conventional