Dictionary

properness en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɹɒ.pɚ.nəs/ (General-American)
• /ˈpɹɒ.pə.nəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *pér Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *pró Proto-Indo-European *pro- Proto-Italic *pro- Proto-Indo-European *preyH- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *priHós Proto-Italic *prijos Proto-Italic *proprijos Latin propriusbor. Anglo-Norman proprebor. Middle English propre English proper Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English properness From proper + -ness.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) The state or condition of being proper; propriety.
   • The kind of women who put papers on shelves and had little towels like that instinctively distrusted and disliked Mack and the boys. Such women knew that they were the worst threats to a home, for they offered ease and thought and companionship as opposed to neatness, order, and properness. 1945, John Steinbeck, Cannery Row:
2. (uncountable, usually) The state or condition of being proper (of a proper fraction, proper subset, etc.).
3. (obsolete, uncountable, usually) Excellence, quality.
   • Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits […] betook himself to his beads, and by those means got more honour than ever he should have done with the use of his limbs and properness of person […] , II.3.2

Forms