appropriate
UK /əˈpɹəʊ.pɹi.eɪt/ · US /əˈpɹoʊ.pɹi.eɪt/ verb, adjective
Forms appropriates appropriating appropriated
- verb (transitive) To take to oneself; to claim or use, especially as by an exclusive right. “Let no man appropriate the use of a common benefit.”
- verb (transitive) To set apart for, or assign to, a particular person or use, especially in exclusion of all others; with to or for. “A spot of ground is appropriated for a garden.”
- verb (transitive, UK, ecclesiastical, law) To annex (for example a benefice, to a spiritual corporation, as its property).
- verb (transitive, archaic) To make suitable to; to suit.
- adjective Suitable or fit; proper; felicitous. “The headmaster wondered what an appropriate measure would be to make the pupil behave better.”
- adjective Suitable to the social situation or to social respect or social discreetness; socially correct; socially discreet; well-mannered; proper. “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.”
- adjective (obsolete) Set apart for a particular use or person; reserved.
- adjective Of an action or thing: morally good; positive. “Rescuing animals is an appropriate thing to do.”
- adjective Of an action or thing: pleasant.
Synonyms
help oneself allocate impropriate steal earmark apt felicitous fitting suitable allow set aside reserve capture seize conquer
Antonyms
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).
From Middle English appropriat (“appropriated”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Set apart for a particular use or person. Hence: Belonging peculiarly; peculiar; suitable; fit; proper.
- verb To take to one's self in exclusion of others; to claim or use as by an exclusive right; as, let no man appropriate the use of a common benefit.
- verb To set apart for, or assign to, a particular person or use, in exclusion of all others; --with to or for; as, a spot of ground is appropriated for a garden; to appropriate money for the increase of the navy.
- noun A property; attribute. [Obs.]
Etymology [L. appropriatus, p. p. of appropriare; ad + propriare to appropriate, fr. proprius one's own, proper. See Proper.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “appropriate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details