proper
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɹɔp.ə/
ipa: /ˈpɹɒp.ə(ɹ)/
enpr: präpʹər
ipa: /ˈpɹɑ.pɚ/
rhymes: -ɒpə(ɹ)
homophone: propper
Forms: form: more proper
form: most proper
form: propa
form: propre
Etymology: From Middle English propre, from Anglo-Norman proper, propre, Old French propre (French: propre), from Latin proprius.
Senses: examples: text: the proper time to plant potatoes
text: The proper study of mankind is man.
ref: 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:
text: One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.
ref: 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:
glosses: Suitable.
Suited or acceptable to the purpose or circumstances; fit, suitable.
synonyms: word: correct
word: right
word: apt
word: prudent
word: upright
word: sensible
word: fitting
word: appropriate
word: apropos
word: apposite
word: apt
word: comely
word: commensurate
word: correct
word: decorous
word: expedient
word: felicitous
word: fit
word: fit for purpose
word: fitting
word: gainand
word: idoneous
word: in line
word: likely
word: meet
word: opportune
word: proper
word: right
word: seemly
word: sensible
word: sortable
word: suitable
word: tidy
word: up to standard
antonyms: word: incorrect
word: wrong
word: bad
word: imprudent
word: insensible
word: improper
word: suitable
examples: text: a very proper young lady
text: This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking.[…]Indeed, all his features were in large mold, like the man himself, as though he had come from a day when skin garments made the proper garb of men.
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: The Nippy became a national icon, symbolic of the girl next door, always approachable and proper; […]
ref: 2014, Paul Chrystal, Tea: A Very British Beverage:
glosses: Suitable.
Following the established standards of behavior or manners; correct or decorous.
synonyms: word: appropriate
word: decent
word: good
word: polite
word: right
word: well-mannered
word: upright
word: halal
word: homodox
word: kosher
word: orthodox
word: by the book
word: allowed
word: conventional
word: correct
word: customary
word: expected
word: natural
word: normal
word: official
word: proper
word: rightful
word: standard
word: traditional
word: true
word: chaste
word: continent
word: correct
word: delicate
word: decent
word: decorous
word: desertful
word: deserving
word: dutiful
word: duteous
word: good
word: honest
word: innocent
word: meritorious
word: modest
word: moral
word: noble
word: right
word: right-minded
word: righteous
word: straight
word: virtuous
word: well-intentioned
word: whole-souled
word: worthy
antonyms: word: inappropriate
word: indecent
word: bad
word: impolite
word: wrong
word: ill-mannered
word: unseemly
word: conventional
word: expected
word: halal
word: kosher
word: orthodox
word: regular
word: standard
word: decent
word: modest
word: moral
word: proper
word: seemly
word: virtuous
topics: mathematics
sciences
topology
glosses: Suitable.
Such that the preimage of every compact set is compact.
raw_tags: of a function
topics: mathematics
sciences
topology
glosses: Suitable.
Continuous, mapping closed sets to closed sets, and such that the preimage of every point is compact.
raw_tags: of a function
topics: algebraic-geometry
geometry
mathematics
sciences
glosses: Suitable.
Separated, of finite type, and universally closed.
raw_tags: of a morphism of schemes
topics: algebraic-geometry
geometry
mathematics
sciences
glosses: Suitable.
Such that unique morphism from the variety to k is proper (as above).
raw_tags: of a variety over a field k
topics: mathematical-analysis
mathematics
sciences
glosses: Suitable.
Such that every closed ball is compact.
raw_tags: of a metric space
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: Possessed, related.
Used to designate a particular person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are usually written with an initial capital letter.
examples: text: They have a proper saint almost for every peculiar infirmity: for poison, gouts, agues […].
ref: , II.1.3
text: 1829, James Marsh, Preliminary Essay to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Aids to Reflection
those higher and peculiar attributes […] which constitute our proper humanity
glosses: Possessed, related.
Pertaining exclusively to a specific thing or person; particular.
synonyms: word: individual
word: singular
word: concrete
word: discrete
word: individual
word: particular
word: peculiar
word: proper
word: singular
word: specific
examples: text: These are divided into two great families, the vipers proper (Viperidae) and the pit-vipers (Crotalidae).
ref: 1893, Annual of the Universal Medical Sciences:
text: Siberia, though it stands outside the territorial confines of Russia proper, constitutes an essentially component part […]. Outer Mongolia, [so called] to distinguish it from Inner Mongolia, which lies nearer to China proper, revolted and declared its independence.
ref: 1976, Eu-Yang Kwang, The political reconstruction of China, page 165:
text: Hence, this border is still blurred, raising the question whether traumatic life events induce sadness/distress – which is self-evident – or depression proper and, secondly, whether sadness/distress is a precursor or pacemaker of depression.
ref: 2004, Stress, the Brain and Depression, page 24:
glosses: Possessed, related.
In the strict sense; within the strict definition or core (of a specified place, taxonomic order, idea, etc).
examples: text: proper motion — proper left — proper right
text: a man so bold
That dares do justice on my proper son
ref: c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
text: Now learn the difference, at your proper cost, / Betwixt true valour and an empty boast.
ref: 1717, John Dryden, Meleager and Atalanta:
text: every country, and more than that, every private place, hath his proper remedies growing in it, particular almost to the domineering and most frequent maladies of it.
ref: , II.4.1.ii
text: Each animal has its proper pleasure, and the proper pleasure of man is connected with reason.
ref: 1946, Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, I.20:
glosses: Possessed, related.
Belonging to oneself or itself; own.
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: Possessed, related.
Portrayed in natural or usual coloration, as opposed to conventional tinctures.
examples: text: proper subset — proper ideal
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: Possessed, related.
Being strictly part of some other thing (not necessarily explicitly mentioned, but of definitional importance), and not being the thing itself.
topics: mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
sciences
glosses: Possessed, related.
Eigen-; designating a function or value which is an eigenfunction or eigenvalue.
examples: text: Now that was a proper breakfast.
glosses: Accurate, strictly applied.
Excellent, of high quality; such as the specific person or thing should ideally be. (Now often merged with later senses.)
synonyms: comprehensive
royal
sweeping
intensive
antonyms: partial
incomplete
superficial
slapdash
examples: text: The same tyme was Moses borne, and was a propper [translating ἀστεῖος (asteîos)] childe in the sight of God, which was norisshed up in his fathers housse thre monethes.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Acts vij:
glosses: Accurate, strictly applied.
Attractive, elegant.
examples: text: Though unusual in the Dublin area he knew that it was not by any means unknown for desperadoes who had next to nothing to live on to be abroad waylaying and generally terrorising peaceable pedestrians by placing a pistol at their head in some secluded spot outside the city proper[…].
ref: 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Accurate, strictly applied.
In the very strictest sense of the word.
synonyms: strictly speaking
properly speaking
par excellence
examples: text: When I realized I was wearing my shirt inside out, I felt a proper fool.
glosses: Accurate, strictly applied.
Utter, complete.
synonyms: word: complete
word: right
word: total
word: utter
word: abject
word: frightful
word: absolute
word: arrant
word: categoric
word: categorical
word: complete
word: consummate
word: downright
word: full
word: full-blown
word: full-bore
word: full-on
word: mere
word: outright
word: out-and-out
word: perfect
word: proper
word: pure
word: rank
word: regular
word: right
word: root and branch
word: sheer
word: straight-out
word: thorough
word: thoroughgoing
word: total
word: unadulterated
word: unalloyed
word: unattenuated
word: uncompromising
word: unconditional
word: unfettered
word: unmitigated
word: unqualified
word: unreserved
word: unrestricted
word: utter
word: wholesale
topics: mathematics
sciences
set-theory
glosses: Accurate, strictly applied.
Not being a set.
raw_tags: of a class
Derived terms: word: China proper
word: city proper
word: good and proper
word: in proper
word: Israel proper
word: La Paz Proper
word: substantive proper
word: Novaliches Proper
word: of its proper movement
word: Pasong Putik Proper
word: prim and proper
word: proper acceleration
word: proper adjective
word: proper article
word: proper class
word: proper divisor
word: proper fraction
word: proper job
word: proper name
word: proper noun
word: proper nounhood
word: proper time
word: proper value
word: strictly proper
Related terms: appropriate
propriety
properly