Dictionary

appropriate en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /əˈpɹoʊ.pɹi.eɪt/ (US)
• (US) audio
• /əˈpɹəʊ.pɹi.eɪt/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From Middle English appropriaten, from appropriat (“appropriated”) + -en, borrowed from Latin appropriātus, perfect passive participle of appropriō (“to make one's own”), from ad (“to”) + propriō (“to make one's own”), from proprius (“one's own, private”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To take to oneself; to claim or use, especially as by an exclusive right.
   • "I promise you," said she, after a pause of some minutes, "to wear the last new dress you gave me, it is a triumph of taste!" Lord Marchmont bowed, and appropriated the compliment as if the taste had been his own, not the milliner's. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Prudence in Politics”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 179:
   • Loitering, panhandling, soliciting prostitution, graffiti writing―these activities [are claimed to] foster serious criminality. As a result, disorder in itself has become a harm that justifies the criminal sanction. By appropriating harm in this way, the order-maintenance approach to criminal justice has disarmed the traditional progressive 1960s response of "no harm." 2001, Bernard E. Harcourt, Illusion of Order:
   • On the morning after the one-day strike, October 4, one of the Type 4s on crew-training, No. D169, was appropriated to head the 3 a.m. mail to Hull, as no steam locomotive had been lit up and the usual Hull Type 3 was not available; [...]. 1962 December, “Motive Power Miscellany: North Eastern Region”, in Modern Railways, pages 422, 425:
   • We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day. 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
   • Let no man appropriate the use of a common benefit.
2. (transitive) To set apart for, or assign to, a particular person or use, especially in exclusion of all others; with to or for.
   • to appropriate money for the increase of the navy
   • A spot of ground is appropriated for a garden.
   • 2012, The Washington Post, David Nakamura and Tom Hamburger, "Put armed police in every school, NRA urges" "I call on Congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation," LaPierre said.
3. (UK, transitive) To annex (for example a benefice, to a spiritual corporation, as its property).
   • Some [benefices] were appropriated to secular ecclesiastical corporations 176, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, book, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:
4. (archaic, transitive) To make suitable to; to suit.
   • Under the towers were a number of gloomy subterraneous apartments with vaulted roofs, the use of which imagination was left to guess, and could only appropriate to punishment and horror. 1790, Helen Maria Williams, Julia, Routledge, published 2016, page 67:
   • The fellow across the road gives up farming and turns his place into a pastoral bootleggery . Picnickers appropriate the lawn and declare for the proletariat . The sheriff comes , argues with them and they depart , leaving the Sunday [...] 1927, Plain Talk, page 94:
   • Were we to take a portion of the skin, and contemplate its exquisite sensibility, so finely appropriated […] we should have no occasion to draw our argument, for the twentieth time, from the structure of the eye or the ear. 1802, William Paley, Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity:

Forms

Deriveds

disappropriate · appropriative · appropriator · misappropriate · reappropriate · malappropriate · unappropriate · appropriater

Synonyms

impropriate · earmark · help oneself (to take to oneself) · steal · allocate (to set apart for)

Translations (91)

ro apropia (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · ru присва́ивать (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · uk асигнувати (to set apart for) · ru вы́делить (to set apart for) · gl apropiarse (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · pt apropriar (to make suitable) · ang āgnettan (law: to annex) · eo alproprigi (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · cs vydělit (to set apart for) · uk виділяти (to set apart for) · ka მისაკუთრება (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · cs přisvojovat si (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · ru приспоса́бливать (to make suitable) · ru приспособля́ть (to make suitable) · de aneignen (law: to annex) · cs určovat (to set apart for) · hu elkülönít (to set apart for) · cmn 獨佔 /独占 (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · bg предназначавам (to set apart for) · ang āgnian (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · nl aanpassen (to make suitable) · fi sovittaa (to make suitable) · es adueñarse de (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · got 𐌲𐌰𐌰𐌹𐌲𐌹𐌽𐍉𐌽 (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · hu előirányoz (to set apart for) · mi kokoraho (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · sv tillägna sig (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · hu fordít (to set apart for) · ru выделя́ть (to set apart for) · pl przywłaszczyć sobie (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · mi kaihau (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · fi omia (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · mi taumanu (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · sv anpassa (to make suitable) · ru ассигнова́ть (to set apart for) · hu alkalmaz (to make suitable) · nb tilegne seg (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · pt designar (to set apart for) · de anpassen (to make suitable) · fr approprier (to make suitable) · bg присвоявам си (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · cs přidělovat (to set apart for) · hu eltulajdonít (law: to annex) · fi varata (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · mi nopenope (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · fi ottaa haltuun (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · no tilpasse (to make suitable) · fi liittää (law: to annex) · uk привласнювати (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · cs přivlastňovat si (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · hu félretesz (to set apart for) · mi tauapo (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · hu illeszt (to make suitable) · cs přizpůsobit (to make suitable) · ru присво́ить (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · ro potrivi (to make suitable) · nl zich toe-eigenen (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · pt apropriar-se de (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · pt apoderar-se de (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · he נִכֵּס (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · cs přidělit (to set apart for) · da tilpasse (to make suitable) · cs vydělovat (to set apart for) · nb tilpasse (to make suitable) · ja 私する (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · sv appropriera (law: to annex) · nn tileigne seg (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · fi varata (to set apart for) · nl toewijzen (to set apart for) · ja 充当する (to set apart for) · cs přisvojit si (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · mi makitaunu (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · hu kisajátít (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · da tilegne sig (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · nn egne til seg (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · ru приспосо́бить (to make suitable) · de aneignen (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · cs určit (to set apart for) · sl prilastiti si (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · az mənimsəmək (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · sl nameniti (to set apart for) · cs přivlastnit si (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · hu igazít (to make suitable) · de zuweisen (to set apart for) · eo konveni (to make suitable) · bg определям (to set apart for) · no annektere (law: to annex) · fi sopeuttaa (to make suitable) · es apropiarse de (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · es apoderarse de (to take to oneself in exclusion of others) · cs přizpůsobovat (to make suitable)

appropriate en · ADJ · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• əprō'priĭt (Received-Pronunciation)
• əprō'priət (US)
• /əˈpɹəʊ.pɹi.ət/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /əˈpɹoʊ.pɹi.ɪt/ (US)
• /əˈpɹoʊ.pɹi.ət/ (US)
• əprō'priət (Received-Pronunciation)
• /əˈpɹəʊ.pɹi.ɪt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• əprō'priĭt (US)

Etymology

From Middle English appropriat (“appropriated”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

Meanings

1. Suitable or fit; proper; felicitous.
   • 1798-1801, Beilby Porteus, Lecture XI delivered in the Parish Church of St. James, Westminster in its strict and appropriate meaning
   • The headmaster wondered what an appropriate measure would be to make the pupil behave better.
   • But some discussion of the complex relationship between “allohistory” and sf is appropriate here, as the genres overlap in certain ways. Classical allohistory— such as Trevelyan's "What if Napoleon had won the Battle of Waterloo?" and Churchill's "If Lee had not won the Battle of Gettysburg" —is a rigorously consistent thought-experiment in historical causality. 2011 February 1, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction, Wesleyan University Press, →ISBN, pages 102–103:
   • appropriate acts of divine worship 1710, Edward Stillingfleet, Several Conferences Between a Romish Priest, a Fanatick Chaplain, and a Divine of the Church of England Concerning the Idolatry of the Church of Rome:
2. Suitable to the social situation or to social respect or social discreetness; socially correct; socially discreet; well-mannered; proper.
   • While it is not considered appropriate for a professor to date his student, there is no such concern once the semester has ended.
   • I don't think it was appropriate for the cashier to tell me out loud in front of all those people at the checkout that my hairpiece looked like it was falling out of place.
   • With such focus from within the footballing community this week on Remembrance Sunday, there was something appropriate about Colchester being the venue for last night’s game. Troops from the garrison town formed a guard of honour for both sets of players, who emerged for the national anthem with poppies proudly stitched into their tracksuit jackets. 2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph:
3. (obsolete) Set apart for a particular use or person; reserved.
4. Of an action or thing: morally good; positive.
   • Rescuing animals is an appropriate thing to do.
5. Of an action or thing: pleasant.

Forms

Antonyms

unhappy · inappropriate (antonym(s) of “all senses”)

Deriveds

appropriateness · appropriately · appropriate technology (Compound words and expressions) · appropes · age-appropriate (Compound words and expressions) · nonappropriate · appropriate adult (Compound words and expressions) · unappropriate · culturally appropriate (Compound words and expressions)

Relateds

property · appropriation · proper

Synonyms

fitting · felicitous · suitable · apt (suited for)

Translations (154)

yi פּאַסיק (suitable to social situation) · eo konvena (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · ca adequat (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · cs patřičný (suitable to social situation) · et asjakohane (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · mi tika (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · cs přiměřený (suitable to social situation) · fi sovelias (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · hy համապատասխան (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · da egnet (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · fi varattu (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person) · eu egoki (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · el κατάλληλος (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · enm honeste (suitable to social situation) · pl odpowiedni (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · cs vhodný (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · nl toepasselijk (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · hi उचित (suitable to social situation) · enm honeste (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · it appropriato (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · nl geschikt (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person) · tr yerinde (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · hu illő (suitable to social situation) · fi sopiva (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · fr approprié (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · az müvafiq (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · tr uygun (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · tr muvfâfık (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · sv lämplig (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · be прыда́тны (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · sv tillbörlig (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · ro adecvat (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person) · sh prìkladan (suitable to social situation) · lv piemērots (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · pl stosowny (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · cs příhodný (suitable to social situation) · it apposito (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person) · nl geschikt (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · ca apropiat (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · uk підходя́щий (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · uk відпові́дний (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · sv passande (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · no hensiktsmessig (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · gd iomchaidh (suitable to social situation) · da hensigtsmæssig (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · bg съотве́тен (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · hy պատշաճ (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · cmn 恰當 /恰当 (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · pl właściwy (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · pl należyty (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · fr idoine (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · lv atbilstošs (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · it apposito (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · sl ustrézen (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · sl primeren (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · da passende (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · tr sâhiplenmek (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person) · pt apropriado (suitable to social situation) · be адпаве́дны (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · yi פּאַסיק (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · tr yakışık alır (suitable to social situation) · cy priodol (suitable to social situation) · ar مُنَاسِب (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · ru уме́стный (suitable to social situation) · ro potrivit (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · cs odpovídající (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · cs příslušný (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · gd freagarrach (suitable to social situation) · ota راست (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · hi उचित (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · no velegnet (suitable to social situation) · ko 적당하다 (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · no egnet (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · et kohane (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · sh pȍdesan (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · de angebracht (suitable to social situation) · bg подходя́щ (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · enm kyndely (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · cs náležitý (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · ja 適当 (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · fi asianmukainen (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · nl aangewezen (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person) · ga oiriúnach (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · da passende (suitable to social situation) · hi शोभनीय (suitable to social situation) · sh prìkladan (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · he מַתְאִים (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · ro potrivit (suitable to social situation) · lv piederīgs (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · mi arotau (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · ko 알맞다 (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · hy պատշաճ (suitable to social situation) · ar لَائِق (suitable to social situation) · no formålstjenlig (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · sv passande (suitable to social situation) · gl apropiado (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · non bærr (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · hu megfelelő (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · bg уме́стен (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · de angemessen (suitable to social situation) · cs vhodný (suitable to social situation) · gl apropiado (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person) · la appropriātus (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · de passend (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · gd freagarrach (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · hi उपयुक्त (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · az uyğun (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · sl primeren (suitable to social situation) · grc ἱκανός (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · nl passend (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · sh prìmjeren (suitable to social situation) · mi tōtika (suitable to social situation) · enm kynde (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · hu helyénvaló (suitable to social situation) · hil dápat (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · fi osoitettu (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person) · tr isâbetli (suitable to social situation) · enm semly (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · cs příhodný (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · hi उपयुक्त (suitable to social situation) · ru подходя́щий (suitable to social situation) · enm semly (suitable to social situation) · gl apropiado (suitable to social situation) · de angemessen (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · az yerli (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · tr biçilmiş kaftan (suitable to social situation) · ru соотве́тствующий (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · es apropiado (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person) · ro potrivit (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person) · fi täsmällinen (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · id sesuai (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · ja 相応しい (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · cmn 適當 /适当 (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · pl stosowny (suitable to social situation) · tr lâyık (suitable to social situation) · ro adecvat (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · fi sovelias (suitable to social situation) · no passende (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · mi tōtika (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · cy priodol (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · nl gepast (suitable to social situation) · da formålstjenlig (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · pt apropriado (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person) · ru подходя́щий (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · hi शोभनीय (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · ja 適切 (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · es apropiado (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · de angebracht (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · pt apropriado (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · gd iomchaidh (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · ko 적절하다 (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · sw mwafaka (peculiar, suitable, fit, proper) · fi sopiva (suitable to social situation) · de zugewiesen (obsolete: set apart for a particular use or person)