property

Pluralproperties

Formsproperties, propertying, propertied

1. 1
   land and buildingsnouncountable or uncountable

   Land or a building that someone owns.

   Like a piece of land with your name on the paperwork.

   They bought a property near the lake last year.

   The property includes a barn and several acres of land.

   UsageSay a property for one house or piece of land, and on the property.

   Similarland, parcel, estate

2. 2
   noununcountable

   Anything that you own and can keep, use, or sell.

   Like the toys that belong only to you and no one else.

   All the property in the house belonged to her grandmother.

   Thieves took valuable property from the store overnight.

   UsageMost often with no a before it: private property, stolen property.

   Similarpossessions, belongings, assets, holdings, effects

   Note
3. 3
   qualitynouncountable

   A quality that something has, like being hard, soft, or able to carry heat.

   Like the color or smell that belongs to a thing.

   One property of rubber is that it stretches and then springs back.

   Each metal has its own special property.

   UsageOften plural: the properties of glass, metal or water.

   Similarattribute

   Note
4. 4
   nounBritishuncountable

   Houses and land, or the business of buying and selling them.

   He got a job in property after leaving school.

   He made his money in property before he went into politics.

   UsageSay work in property, with no a or the.

5. 5
   right to ownnoununcountable

   The right to be the only person who can have, use, and sell or give away something.

   The court had to decide which brother had property in the old family farm.

   When she sold the painting, her property in it passed to the buyer.

   UsageSay someone has property in a thing.

   Similarownership, title, proprietorship

   Note
6. 6
   programmingnouncountable

   A named value that belongs to an object in a program, which code can read or change.

   Like the volume knob on a radio: it holds a value you can check, and sometimes turn to change it.

   Each button in the app has a property that stores its label text.

   You can change an object's color by setting that property in your code.

   Note
7. 7
   story to adaptnounUScountable

   A book, film, or story that a company owns or buys so it can make money from it.

   The studio bought the novel because the property could make a great movie.

   That popular novel became a hot property in Hollywood.

   UsagePeople say a hot property for a story many companies want.

   Note

Showing meanings only. Show all 11