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Synonyms

pro forma

American  
[proh fawr-muh] / proʊ ˈfɔr mə /
Also proforma

adjective

  1. according to form; as a matter of form; for the sake of form.

  2. Commerce. provided in advance of shipment and merely showing the description and quantity of goods shipped without terms of payment.

    a pro forma invoice.

  3. Accounting. indicating hypothetical financial figures based on previous business operations for estimate purposes.

    a pro forma balance sheet.


adverb

  1. as a matter of form.

    Many of the school assignments appear to be done pro forma.

noun

pro forma, plural pro formas plural
  1. a pro forma document.

pro forma British  
/ ˈprəʊ ˈfɔːmə /

adjective

  1. prescribing a set form or procedure

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adverb

  1. performed in a set manner

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
pro forma Cultural  
  1. Doing something pro forma means satisfying only the minimum requirements of a task and doing it in a perfunctory way: “Her welcoming address was strictly pro forma: you could tell that her mind was a million miles away.” From Latin, meaning “by form.”


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of pro forma

First recorded in 1565–75; from Latin prō formā

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 IPO for Applied Aerospace, which is a SpaceX supplier, valued the company at about $3.5 billion, or about six times 2025 pro forma sales of $604 million External link.

From Barron's Jun. 3, 2026

The combined entity will have a pro forma market capitalization of about 10.70 billion Australian dollars, equivalent to US$7.67 billion, and annual gold production estimated at more than 700,000 troy ounces, the companies said.

From The Wall Street Journal May 5, 2026

On a pro forma basis, excluding the assets it spun off earlier this year into a company called Versant, revenue rose 11%.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 23, 2026

The deal makes it a much larger company with pro forma sales of $2.7 billion and Ebitda of almost $500 million.

From Barron's Apr. 20, 2026

But once again the doom and gloom was mostly pro forma.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

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