formulaic

From formula +‎ -ic.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌfɔɹmjəˈleɪ.ɪk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪɪk

formulaic (comparative more formulaic, superlative most formulaic)

1. Closely following a formula or predictable pattern, as:
   1. Conventionalized.

      a formulaic greeting

      • 1982, Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy, Routledge, →ISBN, pages 23–24:

        Homeric Greeks valued clichés because not only the poets but the entire oral noetic world or thought world relied upon the formulaic constitution of thought.

   2. Imitative; unoriginal; trite.

      That TV series has become awfully formulaic in the last couple of seasons.

      • 2025 September 13, Jackie Wullschläger, “Portal to an abstract future or dry dead end?”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 15:

        Neoimpressionism quickly divided viewers: did it herald an abstract future or was it a dry, formulaic dead end?

• formula

• cauliform, fumarolic