pro forma
1
7.2
- adjective
- /proʊ ˈfɔːrmə/
- Formal
:
pro forma
- Investors reviewed the pro forma statements to better understand the expected financial performance of the business.
- pro forma earnings
- pro forma numbers
- pro forma profit
Examples
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The company presented its projections in a pro forma format to illustrate potential future earnings.
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The financial report included a section with pro forma results showing estimated revenues for next year.
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So we are significantly above our pro forma, OK.
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And some pro forma instructions were given to counsel.
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Grade weighting for this assignment was 20% and included a business model, pro forma financials and projections, and marketing, sales, and operations plans.
Academic text (2017)
Synonyms
55
6.1
Temporary for now and likely to change
How Actual
Surface Forms
Morphology
pro + forma
The phrase is a Latin borrowing whose constituents ('pro' and 'forma') are not presented as English lemmas here, so a B1 learner knowing only everyday English vocabulary would likely not infer the technical business sense. There is nevertheless a compositional logic — literally 'for form/appearance' → 'as a matter of form' → provisional or formal figures — so the relation is partial and relies on register-specific or cross-linguistic knowledge.
Etymology
Pro forma comes from the same Latin idea of pro and forma meaning 'for the form'; in business this becomes a picture or example rather than the real thing. Companies use pro forma statements to show adjusted or projected numbers, so these figures are 'not actual' historical results but a way to show how things might look.