Apropos (Adjective)

Pronunciation: [æ-prê-‘po]

Definition 1: (Adjective) Very appropriate at a particular moment or in a particular situation, as "You’re welcome" is very apropos after someone says, "Thank you." (Preposition) In regard to, speaking of, concerning.

Usage 1: Today’s word has been so completely assimilated into English that spelling it "à propos" or even "a propos" is no longer necessary. It is now treated as a single word with no diacritics. It may be used as an adjective or preposition but watch out—with different meanings.

Suggested usage: The adjective means not simply appropriate but appropriate for a specific occasion: "Well, I don’t think pulling the chair from under the Contessa at a Whitehouse dinner was, strictly speaking, apropos." As a preposition, however, it means "concerning, about," "The Contessa had nothing to say to the press apropos the incident at the Whitehouse dinner."

Etymology: Today’s word was originally the French phrase à propos (de) "with regard to" from à "to" from Latin ad "up to" + propos "purpose" from Latin propositum "intended," the neuter past participle of proponere "to intend." This verb is a combination of pro "before, forth" + ponere "to put." The past participle of "ponere" is "positus," which we find in "posit," "positive," "pose," as well as "compose" (put together). It also became pondre "to posit or lay an egg" in Old French, the past participle of which was "pont," a word which came to us as "punt." (A word of gratitude to Paul Levinson for suggesting today’s word would be very apropos at this point, so, thanks, Paul.)

—Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com

For locals, it is apropos to be anywhere else than home this week.  :) The whine of engines is already going strong this morning…
gailr

   1)  Many people scoffed at Andrei Amalrik’s book "Will The Soviet Union Survive Until 1984?  when it first appeared in 1969. However, two decades later it seemed remarkably APROPOS. Almost everything he predicted would happen in Russia and Eastern Europe was beginning to happen.

  2)   A Tuxedo is  considered APROPOS for proms, operas and weddings but would not be APROPOS for a job interview.
   

   Apropos a word meaning "relevant" or "appropriate" derives from Latin via French and has its cognates in Spanish a proposito "by the way" and Romanian aproape "close;near".

—- Brian Costello  :o

While propósito itself means "intention" or "purpose" en español, the phrase a propósito evidently is an idiomatic expression… (And the false friend "proposed" is propuesto in Spanish.)

I have been spelling "apropos" à propos all along, and was not aware that the suggested spelling even existed in English.

By the way, à propos (c.f. a propósito in Spanish) means "by the way" in French.

-Tim

I thought that it should be spelt that way. I’m still going to write it that way.

A proposito is the Italian form.

A propósito is also the Portuguese form.

Brazilian dude