formulate

Etymology

It is formed from English formula + -ate,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} on the pattern of French formuler, from Medieval Latin formulō.^[6][5] The noun is from Latin formula (“form, draft, rule”), a diminutive of forma (“form”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To express in a formula: 1837 in Etymonline,^[2] which notes that it prevailed over formulize (1842) and formularize (1845).^[2] The OED's first quotation is from 1860,^[3] Merriam-Webster's from 1855.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The original sense, to reduce to a formula or set out in a definite, systematic statement,^[3][5] widened to planning or devising something in an orderly way, and to developing or preparing a product such as a soap or a plastic according to a formula.^[4][8]

Timeline

• 1837 – to express in a formula.^[2]
• 1855 – to put into a systematic statement; the OED's first record is from 1860.^[4][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To express in or as if in a formula; to state in a precise and systematic way: The committee formulated its objections in a short report.^[8][4][3]
2. To work out or devise a plan, policy or method: They formulated a new approach to the problem.^[8][4]
3. To develop a formula for making a product, or to prepare it by a formula.^[4]

Word family

• formulation
• formulator
• preformulate

Related words

• formula
• formulaic
• reformulate
• form

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins