mere formality

Though I have tried to take his place, it is mere formality.

And yet a trial would have been a mere formality.

As a result, the board meeting that afternoon was a mere formality.

Mom asked, and John knew it wasn't a mere formality.

The speech was a mere formality, always asked of each person who came before the Council.

The existence of the council itself was a mere formality.

The taking of a blood oath is a mere formality, if you will.

We cannot permit the elections to be a mere formality.

When he passed me an application to complete, I knew it was a mere formality.

The announcement was a mere formality, a matter of making official what had been known for weeks.

In their minds, he was guilty, and the rest would be mere formality.

I am not offering my congratulations as a mere formality.

The approval by the legislature is not a mere formality.

"The decree is a mere formality and nothing more," he said.

There are one or two small things - mere formalities - which I must arrange with you.

After all, it was possible the meeting was a mere formality.

A mere formality, though he'd known people who'd survived such wounds.

"You do understand, I hope, that this is not a mere formality.

Does it believe that giving discharge to the Commission is a mere formality?

The workers saw the consultants' work as a mere formality and stopped worrying.

With Jordan leading the way lately, it may be a mere formality.

And he'll have to sign a pledge not to tell a living soul, but that's a mere formality.

I expected my request to be a mere formality.

She had thought their initiation to be a mere formality, after which Richard could ask for a gathering.

They had evidently assumed this interview was going to be a mere formality.