Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Propriety
Pro-pri′e-ty
,Noun.
pl.
Proprieties
(#)
. 1.
Individual right to hold property; ownership by personal title; property.
[Obs.]
“Onles this propriety be exiled.” Robynson (More's Utopia).
So are the
proprieties
of a wife to be disposed of by her lord, and yet all are for her provisions, it being a part of his need to refresh and supply hers. Jer. Taylor.
2.
That which is proper or peculiar; an inherent property or quality; peculiarity.
[Obs.]
Bacon.
We find no mention hereof in ancient zoographers, . . . who seldom forget
proprieties
of such a nature. Sir T. Browne.
3.
The quality or state of being proper; suitableness to an acknowledged or correct standard or rule; consonance with established principles, rules, or customs; fitness; appropriateness;
“The rule of propriety,” as,
propriety
of behavior, language, manners, etc. Locke.
Webster 1828 Edition
Propriety
PROPRI'ETY
,Noun.
1.
Property; peculiar or exclusive right of possession; ownership. [This primary sense of the word, as used by Locke, Milton, Dryden, &c. seems not to be nearly or wholly obsolete. See Property.]2.
Fitness; suitableness; appropriateness; consonance with established principles, rules or customs; justness; accuracy. Propriety of conduct, in a moral sense, consists in its conformity to the moral law; propriety of behavior, consists in conformity to the established rules of decorum; propriety in language, is correctness in the use of words and phrases, according to established usage, which constitutes the rule of speaking and writing.3.
Proper state.Definition 2024
propriety
propriety
English
Noun
propriety (countable and uncountable, plural proprieties)
- (obsolete) The particular character or essence of someone or something; individuality. [14th-19th c.]
- (obsolete) A characteristic; an attribute. [14th-19th c.]
- (now rare) A piece of land owned by someone; someone's property. [from 15th c.]
- (obsolete) More generally, something owned by someone; a possession. [15th-18th c.]
- 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of the Life of Sally Salisbury:
- I was fearful of giving You a very sensible Disgust, in making You seem the Propriety of one Man, when You know Yourself ordained for the Comfort and Refreshment of Multitudes.
- 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of the Life of Sally Salisbury:
- The fact of possessing something; ownership. [from 15th c.]
- (now rare) Correct language or pronunciation. [from 16th c.]
- Suitability, fitness; the quality of being appropriate. [from 17th c.]
- 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer
- I find such a pleasure, sir, in obeying your commands, that I take care to observe them without ever debating their propriety.
- 1850, Edward Ralph May, "Speech on African American Suffrage"
- Now, if we may, with propriety, refer to the people one question, why may we not, with equal propriety, refer another?
- 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer
- Correctness in behaviour and morals; good manners, seemliness. [from 18th c.]
- 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 12:
- Elinor then ventured to doubt the propriety of her receiving such a present from a man so little, or at least so lately known to her.
- 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House
- Miss Griffin was a model of propriety, and I am at a loss to imagine what the feelings of the virtuous woman would have been, if she had known, when she paraded us down the Hampstead Road two and two, that she was walking with a stately step at the head of Polygamy and Mahomedanism.
- 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club:
- The neighbor is eventually able to sell her home despite Homer’s pants-less affronts to propriety and decency and Bart falls deeply and instantly for one of its new inhabitants, a tough but charming and funny tomboy girl named Laura (voiced by Sara Gilbert) with just the right combination of toughness and sweetness, granite and honey.
- 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 12:
Translations
fitness; the quality of being appropriate
|
|
correctness in behaviour and morals
|