A person who adheres strictly to formulas, rules, or established procedures; someone who prioritizes formula over flexibility or creativity.
From 'formula' + '-ist' suffix. The '-ist' suffix creates an agent noun describing someone devoted to or practicing something—in this case, the practice of following formulas.
Jazz musicians often rebel against being 'formulists'—the genre's entire soul comes from breaking formulas and improvising, yet the underlying harmonic structures are actually highly formalized.
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