formula

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any mathematical rule expressed symbolically.
  2. A symbolic expression of the structure of a compound.
  3. A plan or method for dealing with a problem or for achieving a result.
  4. A formulation; a prescription; a mixture or solution made in a prescribed manner; the identity and quantities of ingredients of such a mixture.
  5. A fixed phrase or set of words intended to be interpreted non-literally, typically used attitudinally or as part of convention; a formulation.
  6. A formal statement of doctrine.
  7. Ellipsis of infant formula, drink given to babies to substitute for mother's milk.
  8. A syntactic expression of a proposition, built up from quantifiers, logical connectives, variables, relation and operation symbols, and, depending on the type of logic, possibly other operators such as modal, temporal, deontic or epistemic ones.

Pronunciation

/ˈfɔː.mjʊ.lə/ en-uk-formula.ogg /ˈfɔɹ.mjə.lə/ /ˈfoː.mjə.lə/

Word forms

formula formulas formulae formulæ

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fōrmula (“a small pattern or mold, form, rule, principle, method, formula”), diminutive of forma (“a form”). See form.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.