MEANING
1. To give an arrangement or practice an official or explicitly established form.
2. To express an idea or relationship through explicit rules, symbols, or a precise model.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- formalize an agreement
- formalize a procedure
- formalize relations
On the page
They formalized the partnership in a written agreement.
The department formalized a procedure that staff had followed informally.
A signed memorandum formalized relations between the two institutions.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- formalize
- Past tense
- formalized
- Past participle
- formalized
- Present participle
- formalizing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- formalize
- Present continuous
- am/is/are formalizing
- Present perfect
- have/has formalized
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been formalizing
- Past
- formalized
- Past continuous
- was/were formalizing
- Past perfect
- had formalized
- Past perfect continuous
- had been formalizing
- Future
- will formalize
- Future continuous
- will be formalizing
- Future perfect
- will have formalized
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been formalizing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: academic. Forms: formalize; formalizes; formalized; formalized; formalizing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: formalizes.
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