Propriety
[prə'praɪətɪ] or [prə'praɪəti]
Definition
(n.) Individual right to hold property; ownership by personal title; property.
(n.) That which is proper or peculiar; an inherent property or quality; peculiarity.
(n.) The quality or state of being proper; suitableness to an acknowledged or correct standard or rule; consonance with established principles, rules, or customs; fitness; appropriateness; as, propriety of behavior, language, manners, etc.
Checked by Kenneth
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Fitness (to a proper standard or rule), appropriateness, suitableness, seemliness, justness, correctness, accuracy, consonance, adaptation, reasonableness.[2]. Decorum, decency, good behavior, proper formality.
Checked by Jessie
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Fitness, appropriateness, justness, correctness, expediency, decorum,[SeeEXPEDIENCY_and_DECORUM]
Edited by Ben
Definition
n. a person's right of possession: state of being proper or right: agreement with established principles or customs: fitness: accuracy: property: (obs.) individuality.—The proprieties conventional customs of society.
Inputed by Elliot
Examples
- Traders and other undertakers may, no doubt with great propriety, carry on a very considerable part of their projects with borrowed money. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- He received the communication with perfect calmness, and acquiesced in its propriety. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Before the winter was far advanced, it is actually on record that Emmy took a night and received company with great propriety and modesty. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Well, then Uncle and Aunt were there to play propriety. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- She had as firm a belief in the sweetness and propriety of his manners as she could possibly have had if he had been Lord Chamberlain. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- On the 1st of November I suggested to Sherman, and also asked his views thereon, the propriety of destroying Hood before he started on his campaign. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- No other house can receive her with propriety but yours. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- My strict sense of propriety restores it (by the hands of my wife) to its place on the writer's table. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- I'm going, so you needn't try to preach propriety, for you can't do it, Jo. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- As for me, my sense of propriety was completely bewildered. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- In short, Topsy soon made the household understand the propriety of letting her alone; and she was let alone, accordingly. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Regardless of decorum, you are prepared to fly in the face of propriety. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Even admitting that the size and weight of his low-tension conductors necessitated putting them underground, this argues nothing against the propriety and sanity of his methods. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- I only doubt--' 'The propriety of my leaving it. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Are you lost to every feeling of propriety and delicacy? Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- With a few lessons, she had learned to do the proprieties of Miss Ophelia's chamber in a way with which even that particular lady could find no fault. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- It was somehow understood, as a secret article in the state proprieties of Podsnappery that nothing must be said about the day. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Mr. and Mrs. Elton appeared; and all the smiles and the proprieties passed. Jane Austen. Emma.
Typist: Margery