[proh fawr-muh] 
| 1. | according to form; as a matter of form; for the sake of form. |
| 2. | Commerce. provided in advance of shipment and merely showing the description and quantity of goods shipped without terms of payment: a pro forma invoice. |
| 3. | Accounting. indicating hypothetical financial figures based on previous business operations for estimate purposes: a pro forma balance sheet. |
Doing something pro forma means satisfying only the minimum requirements of a task and doing it in a perfunctory way: “Her welcoming address was strictly pro forma: you could tell that her mind was a million miles away.” From Latin, meaning “by form.”