proprietary Hear it!

proprietary definition

pro·pri·etary (prə prī′ə ter′ē, prō-)

noun pl. proprietaries -·tar′·ies

  1. a proprietor or owner
  2. a group of proprietors
  3. proprietorship or ownership
  4. ☆ the grantee or owner of a proprietary colony in colonial America
  5. a proprietary medicine

Etymology: LL proprietarius < L proprietas: see property

adjective

  1. belonging to a proprietor
  2. holding property
  3. of property or proprietorship
  4. privately owned and operated a proprietary nursing home
  5. held under patent, trademark, or copyright by a private person or company a proprietary medicine

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

business proprietary definition - business

law proprietary definition - legal

medical proprietary definition - medical

telecom proprietary definition - telecom

proprietary Synonyms

proprietary

modif.

fashionable, restrictive, established; see exclusive.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

proprietary Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • make: We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary.

Used with adjective complement

  • consider: Actual test data will only be issued to approval holders if it is not considered proprietary to their suppliers.

Modifies a noun

  • estoppel: Alternatively, V was entitled to an interest by way of proprietary estoppel in relation to both properties.

Modifying Another Word

  • even: For end users its easier than even proprietary font managers.

Noun used with modifier

  • program: We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary.
proprietary usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

Link to this page:

Cite this page:

MLA Style

"proprietary." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/proprietary>

APA Style

proprietary. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/proprietary

Comments:

Please or Register to post a comment