formulaic
adjUS /ˌfɔɹmjəˈleɪ.ɪk/
Etymology From formula + -ic.
› Closely following a formula or predictable…
1
Conventionalized.
- a formulaic greeting
- Homeric Greeks valued clichés because not only the poets but the entire oral noetic world or thought world relied upon the formulaic constitution of thought.1982, Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy, Routledge, →ISBN, pages 23–24:
2
Imitative; unoriginal; trite.
- That TV series has become awfully formulaic in the last couple of seasons.
- Neoimpressionism quickly divided viewers: did it herald an abstract future or was it a dry, formulaic dead end?2025 September 13, Jackie Wullschläger, “Portal to an abstract future or dry dead end?”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15:
- Derived terms
- formulaically, formulaicity, formulaicness, nonformulaic, unformulaic
- Related terms
- formula