appropriate

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb

To take to oneself; to claim or use, especially as by an exclusive right.
To set apart for, or assign to, a particular person or use, especially in exclusion of all others; with to or for.
To annex (for example a benefice, to a spiritual corporation, as its property).
To make suitable to; to suit.

adj

Suitable or fit; proper; felicitous.
Suitable to the social situation or to social respect or social discreetness; socially correct; socially discreet; well-mannered; proper.
Set apart for a particular use or person; reserved.
Of an action or thing: morally good; positive.
Of an action or thing: pleasant.

Pronunciation

/əˈpɹəʊ.pɹi.eɪt/ /əˈpɹoʊ.pɹi.eɪt/ en-us-appropriate-verb.ogg /əˈpɾɔpɾɪeʈ/ əprō'priĭt əprō'priət /əˈpɹəʊ.pɹi.ɪt/ /əˈpɹəʊ.pɹi.ət/ /əˈpɹoʊ.pɹi.ɪt/ /əˈpɹoʊ.pɹi.ət/ en-us-appropriate-adj.ogg

Word forms

appropriate appropriates appropriating appropriated more appropriate most appropriate

Etymology

From Middle English appropriaten, from appropriat (“appropriated”) + -en, borrowed from Latin appropriātus, perfect passive participle of appropriō (“to make one's own”), from ad (“to”) + propriō (“to make one's own”), from proprius (“one's own, private”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix).

Synonyms

impropriate steal earmark help oneself allocate felicitous fitting suitable apt

Antonyms

inappropriate unhappy

Related words

appropriation proper property

Derived words

appropriater appropriative appropriator disappropriate malappropriate misappropriate reappropriate unappropriate appropes appropriately appropriateness nonappropriate age-appropriate appropriate adult appropriate technology culturally appropriate

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

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