formulate
Americanverb (used with object)
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formulates,
present (3rd person singular)
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formulated,
past participle, past
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formulating
present participle
verb
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to put into or express in systematic terms; express in or as if in a formula
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to devise
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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formulationnoun
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formulatornoun
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nonformulationnoun
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preformulationnoun
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preformulateverb (used with object)
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formulableadjective
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unformulatedadjective
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well-formulatedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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formulatesimple
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formulatessimple
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have formulatedperfect
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has formulatedperfect
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am formulatingprogressive
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are formulatingprogressive
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is formulatingprogressive
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have been formulatingperfect progressive
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has been formulatingperfect progressive
Past
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formulatedsimple
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had formulatedperfect
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was formulatingprogressive
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were formulatingprogressive
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had been formulatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of formulate
Explanation
To formulate is to come up with a plan. If you are locked out of your house, you'll need to formulate a plan to get back inside — preferably one that doesn't involve kicking in the door. You can also use the verb formulate to mean "put into words." If too many people are showing up at your work in inappropriate clothes, your company may formulate a dress code policy. They may, for example, decree that shoes must be worn at all times. The verb can also mean "to develop a formula for something." If the dog ate the chicken you were going to use in your dinner, you may need to formulate a new recipe for chicken-less pot pie.
Vocabulary lists containing formulate
Tier 2 Words for the SBAC ELA Items
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Shape Up: Form
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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:
Blackstone worked with Morrison to formulate a plan for Jersey Mike’s to offer its first hot Italian sub, which has been a hit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
It was this link between one-way genetic flow, patrilocality, and the non-reciprocity of exchange that led me, in Néandertal nu in 2022, to formulate the singular paradox: “Neanderthal, Sapiens: I love you… me neither.”
From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026
McLuhan’s theories about how different forms of media evolve almost help him formulate what would become “Saturday Night Live” many years earlier.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
Faison: When the pandemic happened, Zach and I did a rewatch podcast of “Scrubs,” and that’s where all of this started to formulate again.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
Surveys to determine what issues bothered parents and students were drawn up and mailed out, and the responses were processed in order to formulate an agenda.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
As she formulates her proposal for a better answer, Ms. Horn laments that a knowledge of Jewish civilization is part of a “null curriculum”—history that is ignored in most American classrooms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
A "reasoning model" trained on task-specific examples interprets the goal and formulates Phantom's action plan.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
The typical comedy equation is tragedy plus time; “Diarra From Detroit” formulates an alternate calculation that joins crisis and unanswered questions.
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2024
Not the official fundraising and administrative apparatus that runs conventions and formulates policy platforms, but the broad constellation of think tanks, nonprofits, academic experts, and journalists that collectively regulates the liberal intellectual atmosphere.
From Slate ● Mar. 19, 2024
“Who formulates the policies of these two companies?”
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
"She formulated a philosophy of art she dubbed 'self-obliteration' based on simple motifs of obsessive repetition and proliferation," according to her website.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
Aschenbrenner formulated the worldview behind his paper, called “Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead,” while he was still at OpenAI.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Most commercial batteries use specially formulated liquid or solid electrolytes.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026
Plans are being formulated for the months ahead and the band's members have different ambitions for the future.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
The thesis is misnamed, because, as it is usually formulated, Duhem did not hold it and Quine abandoned it, but it is the fundamental conceptual underpinning of much modern history and philosophy of science.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
But instead of formulating a plan, the suit argued, the officers began yelling at him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
The simplest way of formulating that question: Is there any objective sense in which a man can become a woman or vice versa?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Paris and Berlin want "to have a Franco-German roadmap on this issue by September", he said, adding that their economy, finance and foreign ministers had been tasked with formulating the plan.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
You’re not formulating an answer when you’re watching a movie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
I could already imagine them formulating a plan.
From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia
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.
