formalistic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The argument advanced by the IRS is a formalistic one that results in an absurdity: Cryptocurrency wasn’t explicitly included in the list of items that meet the “readily valued property” exemption to the appraisal rules.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026
Kabalevsky succumbed to Stalin’s decrees against formalistic art, and he has never been taken seriously in the West.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2025
As a filmmaker, Hogg is a seemingly incongruous blend of free-flowing and formalistic.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 27, 2021
“So your first order of preference would be the kind of formalistic line that I was just describing,” she said.
From New York Times • Nov. 2, 2020
There is still, compared with Beethoven, a huge amount of formalistic padding; but so far as he dared and could, he was loading his rifts with ore.
From Haydn by Runciman, John F.