formulaic nature
- noun
- And this was indicated by both the brevity and the formulaic nature of their responses.
Examples
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Many pop songs share a formulaic nature, leading to a similar sound across different artists.
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Despite its formulaic nature, the press conference has an important purpose: specifically to convince the public of the sinner's sincerity, and more generally to probe his character.
Academic text (2011) -
When this passage is compared to the often formulaic nature of many decrees, it is striking, even in its present fragmented state.
Blog text (2) -
Critics often remarked on the formulaic nature of the film, making it predictable and unoriginal.
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The formulaic nature of his reports made them easy to anticipate, lacking any fresh insights.
Synonyms
Lacking new ideas and using the usual or expected forms
A way people usually do something that has lasted a long time
Antonyms
How Formulaic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: an adjective 'formulaic' (made according to a formula) modifying 'nature' (the quality or character of something), so 'formulaic nature' straightforwardly means the quality of being formulaic. This adjective+noun pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the phrase's meaning.
Etymology
Formulaic nature comes from the idea of a fixed formula or recipe that people follow exactly. If you always use the same recipe, the result is easy to guess and not new, so 'formulaic nature' means 'predictable' or 'not original'.