pro forma
adjective · adverb · noun
Simple meaning
Occurring, undertaken, or performed as a perfunctory matter, in the interest of form, or for the sake of formality.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
prohfawrmuhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɹoʊˈfɔɹmə
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Occurring, undertaken, or performed as a perfunctory matter, in the interest of form, or for the sake of formality.
Showing projected costs, liabilities, etc., especially as a result of an expected action or situation. (of a financial document)
Of or relating to a document of form, especially an invoice sent in advance.
adverb
Undertaken or performed as a perfunctory matter, in the interest of form, or for the sake of politeness.
noun
A document that shows the standard entries of a form or similar document.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Occurring, undertaken, or performed as a perfunctory matter, in the interest of form, or for the sake of formality.
Used this way, pro forma is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.