Formulated

How to spell formulated

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce formulated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does formulated mean?

1. verbExpressed or devised something in a precise, systematic way, or prepared a mixture according to a specific recipe.

Formulated in a sentence

• The committee formulated a clear policy after weeks of debate.

• The lab formulated a new shampoo with fewer harsh chemicals.

Where does formulated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin formula, a diminutive of forma meaning 'shape' or 'mould', so a formula was literally a 'little form', a small fixed pattern or set rule. By the seventeenth century English had taken formula to mean a precise statement, recipe, or method expressed in a fixed way. From that noun came the verb formulate, recorded from the early nineteenth century, meaning to express something in a clear, systematic form, as a chemist might compose a mixture or a thinker might frame an argument. The past-tense form formulated adds the regular -ed ending. The spelling trap lies in the unstressed middle: the schwa in the -ul- syllable is easy to drop or swap, and writers must remember the single l before -ate, not a doubled one.

How the word is built

• form (shape, mould)
• -ul- (diminutive, from formula 'little form')
• -ate (verb)
• -ed (past tense)