Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To give a definite form or shape to.
  • transitive verb To make formal.
  • transitive verb To give formal standing or endorsement to; make official or legitimate by the observance of proper procedure.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To reduce to form; give a certain form to; model.
  • To render formal.
  • To affect formality; become formal.
  • To use forms, as of statement.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb rare To give form, or a certain form, to; to model.
  • transitive verb To render formal.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To affect formality.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To give something a definite form; to shape.
  • verb To give something a formal or official standing.
  • verb To act with formality.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make formal or official
  • verb declare or make legally valid

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

formal +‎ -ize

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