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. ownership.
5. something owned, especially real estate.
6. a proprietary medicine.
7. 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
3. 1. right to property
   2. property owned
4. Also calledlord proprietary (in Colonial America) an owner, governor, or grantee of a proprietary colony

Derived Forms

• proˈprietarily, adverb

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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of proprietary¹

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

Example Sentences

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

From The Daily Beast

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

From The Daily Beast

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

From The Daily Beast

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

From The Daily Beast

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

From The Daily Beast

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

From Project Gutenberg

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.

From Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• antidote
• drug
• elixir
• fix
• healing
• medication
• medicine
• panacea
• placebo
• quick fix
• recovery
• remedy
• treatment