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View synonyms for proprietary

proprietary

[ pruh-prahy-i-ter-ee ]

adjective

  1. belonging to a proprietor.
  2. being a proprietor; holding property:

    the proprietary class.

  3. pertaining to property or ownership:

    proprietary wealth.

  4. belonging or controlled as property.
  5. (of a brand name, product, service, formula, etc.) protected by a patent, copyright, or trademark:

    proprietary drugs; a proprietary name; a proprietary logo; a proprietary blend of ingredients.

  6. privately owned and operated for profit:

    proprietary hospitals.



noun

, plural pro·pri·e·tar·ies.
  1. an owner or proprietor.
  2. a body of proprietors.
  3. American History. the grantee or owner, or one of the grantees or owners, of a proprietary colony.
  4. something owned, especially real estate.
  5. a proprietary medicine.
  6. Also called proprietary school. a school organized as a profit-making venture primarily to teach vocational skills or self-improvement techniques.

proprietary

/ prəˈpraɪɪtərɪ; -trɪ /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or belonging to property or proprietors
  2. privately owned and controlled
  3. med of or denoting a drug or agent manufactured and distributed under a trade name Compare ethical


noun

  1. med a proprietary drug or agent
  2. a proprietor or proprietors collectively
    1. right to property
    2. property owned
  3. Also calledlord proprietary (in Colonial America) an owner, governor, or grantee of a proprietary colony

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Derived Forms

  • proˈprietarily, adverb

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Other Words From

  • pro·pri·e·tar·i·ly [pr, uh, -prahy-i-, tair, -i-lee, -, prahy, -i-ter-], adverb
  • nonpro·prie·tary adjective noun plural nonproprietaries

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Word History and Origins

Origin of proprietary1

1400–50; late Middle English (noun) < Medieval Latin proprietārius owner, noun use of Late Latin: of an owner, of ownership. See propriety, -ary

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Word History and Origins

Origin of proprietary1

C15: from Late Latin proprietārius an owner, from proprius one's own

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Example Sentences

Yet by equating their engineering with Teutonic rigor the Germans have created the impression of an exclusive proprietary quality.

The Volcker Rule, a component of the far-reaching Dodd-Frank law, required large banks to cut back on proprietary trading.

That data is available only to publishers through their vendors and is proprietary unless released to the public.

Nor did Microsoft transform its proprietary operating system into open-source code.

The company created customized mixtapes at the point-of-sale with its own proprietary technology.

Their constitutions differed in various points; in some the governor was appointed by the crown, in others by the proprietary.

He walked across the room to my lad—I was now beginning to feel a proprietary interest in him—and seized him roughly by the arm.

Yet it is advertised to physicians as an ethical proprietary and is evidently being prescribed by them.

This product is another of the patent-medicine–ethical-proprietary type of nostrums.

The proprietary Chologen is interesting some of our readers and several have sent us samples and literature.

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propranololproprietary colony