# proper

Pronunciation: US say "PRAH-pur" /ˈpɹɑ.pɚ/; UK say "PROP-uh" /ˈpɹɒp.ə(ɹ)/

## Adjective

1. Suited or acceptable to a purpose or set of circumstances; fit and suitable.
   - Simple: Right or suitable for a certain use or situation.
   - _Make sure you store the chemicals in a proper container._
   - _Without proper training, the new staff struggled with the machines._
2. Used after a noun: in the strict or narrow sense of the word, not including what is only loosely connected, as in the city proper.
   - Simple: Used after a word to mean only the real or main thing it names, as in the city proper.
   - _The festival crowds spilled well beyond the village proper._
   - _The museum proper opens at nine, though the gardens are free all day._
3. Correct or decorous; following the accepted standards of behavior and manners.
   - Simple: Correct and polite according to the usual rules of behavior.
   - _His proper conduct at the ceremony impressed the elders._
   - _There is a proper way to address a judge in court._
4. Real and satisfactory; being fully what a thing of that kind should be, rather than a poor or partial substitute.
   - Simple: Real and good enough, the way that kind of thing should be.
   - _They served a proper feast, with several courses and fine wine._
   - _She finally found a proper job that matched her skills._
5. In grammar, identifying one individual person, place, or thing by its name, as "Paris" or "Amazon" does, and usually capitalized in writing.
   - Simple: Naming one specific person, place, or thing, usually written with a capital letter.
   - _Teachers explain that a proper name always takes a capital letter._
   - _In this sentence, 'Amazon' functions as a proper noun, not a common one._
6. Belonging or relating exclusively to a specific person or thing; particular to it.
   - Simple: Belonging only to one particular person or thing.
   - _Courage and loyalty are virtues proper to the knightly class._
   - _Each region has dances proper to its festivals._
7. Utter or complete; used as an intensifier to stress the full extent of something. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Complete or total, often said to stress how bad something is.
   - _The whole trip turned into a proper disaster._
   - _Our new neighbor turned out to be a proper nuisance._
10. In mathematics, being strictly part of some larger thing and not the whole thing itself.
   - Simple: Used in math for something that is only a part of a bigger thing, not the whole thing.
   - _The set of even numbers is a proper subset of the integers._
   - _Since a proper subset must leave something out, {1, 2} is a proper subset of {1, 2, 3}, but {1, 2, 3} is not a proper subset of itself._
11. Attractive and elegant; pleasing to look at in form or style. *(dialectal)*
   - Simple: Attractive and elegant, with a pleasing look or style.

## Adverb

8. In a correct, thorough, or fitting way; a casual variant of "properly." *(nonstandard)*
   - Simple: In the right or full way.
   - _The mechanic finally got the engine running proper after hours of tinkering._
   - _Nobody in my family ever talked proper, according to my aunt._
9. Thoroughly or completely; used informally to mean 'really' or 'very'. *(colloquial, Ireland, UK)*
   - Simple: In a complete or total way, used to mean 'really' or 'very'.
   - _He was proper chuffed with his exam results._
   - _The car got proper stuck in the mud after all that rain._

## Noun

12. A thing set apart and reserved for a particular use. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A thing kept aside and used only for one special purpose.

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Belonging to oneself or to the thing itself; one's very own.
- (noun) A part of the Christian liturgy whose text changes according to the date or feast being observed.
- (adjective) Depicted in natural or usual coloring rather than the conventional heraldic tinctures.
- (adjective) In set theory, describing a class that is not itself a set.
- (adjective) In topology, describing a continuous map under which the preimage of every compact set is compact (in some definitions, a closed map whose point preimages are compact).
- (adjective) In mathematical analysis, describing a metric space in which every closed ball is compact.
- (adjective) In algebraic geometry, describing a morphism that is separated, of finite type and universally closed, or a variety whose morphism to its base field is of this kind.
- (adjective) In mathematics and physics, designating a function or value that is an eigenfunction or eigenvalue.
- (adjective) In topology, describing a continuous function that maps closed sets to closed sets and for which the preimage of every point is compact.
- (adjective) In algebraic geometry, describing a variety for which the unique morphism to the base field k is proper.

## Origin

From Middle English propre, borrowed via Anglo-Norman and Old French propre from Latin proprius.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/proper (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).