as in imitative
using or marked by the use of something else as a basis or model
she thought the plots of most action movies were pretty formulaic
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Recent Examples of formulaic
Like the more successful dishes on the menu, the biryani surfaces regional ingredients and techniques without veering toward the formulaic.
—
Tejal Rao, New York Times, 2 May 2025
On the other hand, the Trump administration should aim to keep high-end, strategic manufacturing—in sectors such as semiconductors and industrial robotics—close to balanced, through formulaic reciprocal tariffs.
—Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Foreign Affairs, 29 Apr. 2025
Look to make your investing as formulaic as possible.
—Catherine Brock, Forbes.com, 30 June 2025
Despite the often-predictable limitations of the genre, Ehren Kruger’s script avoids feeling formulaic (sorry).
—Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 30 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for formulaic
Tejal Rao, New York Times, 2 May 2025
On the other hand, the Trump administration should aim to keep high-end, strategic manufacturing—in sectors such as semiconductors and industrial robotics—close to balanced, through formulaic reciprocal tariffs.
—Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Foreign Affairs, 29 Apr. 2025
Look to make your investing as formulaic as possible.
—Catherine Brock, Forbes.com, 30 June 2025
Despite the often-predictable limitations of the genre, Ehren Kruger’s script avoids feeling formulaic (sorry).
—Ew Staff Published, EW.com, 30 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for formulaic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for formulaic
Adjective
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Nautilus is bold in its changes to Captain Nemo’s story — new monsters, new villains — but imitative to other genre series in execution, and the vibe is a little didactic.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
25 June 2025
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The word was likely imitative of the deep humming sound male bees make.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
25 May 2025
Adjective
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Which brings us back to the outcry mentioned up top, and the rather unoriginal mention of the old as economics truth that there’s no free lunch.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
18 July 2025
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Meta said unoriginal content is when images or videos are reused without crediting the original creator.—
Zach Vallese,
CNBC,
14 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Formulaic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/formulaic. Accessed 25 Jul. 2025.
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