Definition of proper

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< propensity

proper adjective >

prop·er    (prpr) KEY 

ADJECTIVE:

1. Characterized by appropriateness or suitability; fitting: the proper knife for cutting bread; not a proper moment for a joke.
2. Called for by rules or conventions; correct: the proper form for a business letter.
3. Strictly following rules or conventions, especially in social behavior; seemly: a proper lady; a proper gentleman.
4. 1. Belonging to one; own: restored to his proper shape by the magician.
   2. Characteristically belonging to the being or thing in question; peculiar: an optical effect proper to fluids.
5. Being within the strictly limited sense, as of a term designating something: the town proper, excluding the suburbs.
6. Ecclesiastical For use in the liturgy of a particular feast or season of the year.
7. Mathematics Of or relating to a subset of a given set when the set has at least one element not in the subset.
8. Worthy of the name; true: wanted a proper dinner, not just a snack.
9. Out-and-out; thorough: a proper whipping.

ADVERB:

Thoroughly: beat the eggs good and proper.

NOUN:
Ecclesiastical also Proper

The parts of the liturgy that vary according to the particular feast or season of the year.

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ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English propre, from Old French, from Latin proprius; see per¹ in Indo-European roots

OTHER FORMS:
proper·ly(Adverb), proper·ness(Noun)