How to Use formalize in a Sentence

formalize

verb
  • Congress formalized the policy by making it law.
  • The company has formalized its hiring practices.
  • Bill, which formalized the deed.
    — Shaun McKinnon, AZCentral.com, 14 Oct. 2025
  • But that agreement was not formalized and is not entered in court.
    — Carrie Cochran, Cincinnati.com, 27 June 2017
  • Before the postal service was formalized, that was where mail came.
    — Phaedra Trethan, USA Today, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Kanaiyah's Law will formalize those changes into law.
    — Adam Thompson, CBS News, 14 Apr. 2026
  • The question is still whether a deal or agreement of some sort was ever formalized.
    — Andrew Prokop, Vox, 17 June 2018
  • In the event a couple divorces, a postnup formalized by a lawyer can be a good thing to have.
    — Demetria Gallegos, WSJ, 25 Mar. 2018
  • Our plan for the future is to try and formalize that alumni network.
    — Diana Lodderhose, Deadline, 25 Feb. 2026
  • At some point, the top five must formalize to build cohesion within the unit.
    — Nathan Baird, cleveland, 15 Aug. 2023
  • There's also talk of a process to formalize the trade truce between the two nations.
    — Tamara Keith, NPR, 12 May 2026
  • Iran is now signaling that this leverage could be formalized.
    — Abbas Al Lawati, CNN Money, 28 Mar. 2026
  • This is an excellent time to formalize an idea or pitch a creative concept.
    — Valerie Mesa, PEOPLE, 25 June 2026
  • That’s new and different and needs to be formalized to sustain the effort for the long term.
    — Rhea Wessel, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024
  • The move formalized something that had already been taking shape.
    — Dana Harris-Bridson, IndieWire, 17 Feb. 2026
  • Schumer's office stressed that the dress code, while enforced, was never formalized.
    — Allison Pecorin, ABC News, 18 Sep. 2023
  • And then the process of bringing those two things together will formalize what the structure is.
    — Meaghan Garvey, Pitchfork, 3 Apr. 2025
  • The exact terms of Gantz’s deal with Netanyahu have yet to be formalized.
    — Jonathan S. Tobin, National Review, 27 Mar. 2020
  • The Supreme Court is set to formalize the dismissal early next year.
    — Hernan Lopez, Variety, 20 Dec. 2025
  • The delay -- a third granted by Europe this year -- must still be formalized.
    — Rob Picheta, CNN, 28 Oct. 2019
  • First the divorce gets sorted out and formalized in the withdrawal treaty.
    — Emma Ross-Thomas, Bloomberg.com, 26 Mar. 2018
  • Less than two weeks after that meeting, his White House formalized his drift back to the right.
    — Amber Phillips, Washington Post, 12 Mar. 2018
  • Once the science became more formalized, then there came this tension [about] who has a right to collect these things.
    — Rachel Becker, The Verge, 15 Oct. 2018
  • Sotheby’s new initiative, in a way, formalizes that shift.
    — Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 19 May 2026
  • But could these proofs be formalized and verified by a computer?
    — Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 26 Mar. 2026
  • This formalized what was long the tradition in baseball and has helped lead to a renaissance of sorts.
    — Jason Parker, NBC News, 21 Oct. 2023
  • The votes are the next step to formalize the 2020 election results.
    — John McCormick, WSJ, 15 Dec. 2020
  • Now, the company has formalized its response in the form of a nine-figure lawsuit.
    — Elizabeth Wagmeister, Variety, 7 Aug. 2023
  • Owner Dan Gilbert must formalize roles and the people who will fill them in his front office.
    — cleveland.com, 14 July 2017
  • The vote to formalize the new standards came Thursday in a 13-1 vote from the board.
    — Courtney Tanner, The Salt Lake Tribune, 5 Aug. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'formalize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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