appropriate

Pronunciation

• IPA: adjective: UK /əˈprəʊ.pri.ət/, US /əˈproʊ.pri.ət/; verb: UK /əˈprəʊ.pri.eɪt/, US /əˈproʊ.pri.eɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English appropriat,^[2] borrowed from Late Latin appropriātus, the past participle of appropriāre (“to make one's own”) (also adpropriāre),^[3][4] from ad- (“to”) and propriāre (“to take as one's own”), from proprius (“one's own”).^[3][4] By the 17th century the Latinate verb had replaced the older appropre, from Old French aproprier.^[4] It is related to proper, property and appropriation.^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both adjective and verb are from the early 15th century:^[3][4] the verb meant “to take possession of, take exclusively”,^[3] and Barnhart's first adjective sense is “belonging to as an attribute” (before 1425).^[4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective “specially suitable, proper” is from the early 15th century in Etymonline^[3] and 1546 in the OED,^[6] which also records “belonging to oneself, private” (1627), now obsolete.^[6] The verb meant “to make a thing the private property of someone” (1535)^[6] and, in church law, “to annex a benefice to a religious body” (1528).^[6] “To take for one's own use” is from 1635,^[6] and “to set apart money for a particular purpose” is the sense used of legislatures.^[7][8] Johnson defined the adjective as “peculiar; consigned to some particular use or person”.^[9]

Timeline

• early 15th century – verb, to take possession of; adjective.^[3]
• 1528 – to annex a benefice.^[6]
• 1535 – to make private property.^[6]
• 1546 – suitable, proper.^[6]
• 1635 – to take for oneself.^[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Suitable for a particular person, occasion or place; fitting.

Verb

1. To set apart for a specific use, especially money by a legislature.
2. To take for one's own use, often without permission.

Word family

• appropriately
• appropriateness
• appropriator
• appropriable
• appropriativeness
• reappropriate
• misappropriate

Related words

• appropriation
• proper
• property
• propriety
• expropriate
• inappropriate

Usage notes

The American Heritage sets the verb beside arrogate, commandeer, confiscate, preempt and usurp, which share the meaning “to seize for oneself”.^[7]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.