different between apposite vs appropriate

English

Etymology

From Latin appositus, past participle of adponere, from ad- + ponere (“to put, place”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?a.p?.z?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?æ.p?.z?t/, IPA^(key): /??p?z?t/

Adjective

apposite (comparative more apposite, superlative most apposite)

1. Strikingly appropriate or relevant; well suited to the circumstance or in relation to something.
   • c. 1833–1856, Andrew Carrick, John Addington Symonds (editors), Medical Topography of Bristol, in Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association/Volume 2/3,

     Medical Topography would be the most apposite title, since it comprehends the principal objects of investigation; [...].

   • 1919, H. L. Mencken, The American Language: An inquiry into the development of English in the United States, Chapter 15: The Expanding Vocabulary,

     Rough-neck is a capital word; it is more apposite and savory than the English navvy, and it is over-whelmingly more American.
2. Positioned at rest in respect to another, be it side-to-side, front-to-front, back-to-back, or even three-dimensionally: in apposition.
   • 1971, University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Volume 34, page 262,

     In other words, they are used to name, rather than to describe. They are apposite nouns and not adjectives.

3. Related, homologous.
   • 2000, David Skeele, "All That Monarchs Do": The Obscured Stages of Authority in Pericles, in Pericles: Critical Essays,

     If the shift in theatrical setting and the shift in dramaturgy are at all related, they are apposite developments, independent yet homologous signs of a changing political and cultural climate.

Synonyms

• (appropriate or relevant): to the point; See also Thesaurus:pertinent
• (positioned at rest in respect to another):
• (related): See also Thesaurus:connected

Related terms

• appositely
• appositeness
• apposition

Translations

Noun

apposite (plural apposites)

1. (rare) That which is apposite; something suitable.

See also

• opposite

References

Italian

Adjective

apposite

1. feminine plural of apposito

Latin

Participle

apposite

1. vocative masculine singular of appositus

References

• apposite in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• apposite in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

English

Etymology

From Middle English appropriaten, borrowed from Latin appropriatus, past participle of approprio (“to make one's own”), from ad (“to”) + proprio (“to make one's own”), from proprius (“one's own, private”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ?pr?'pri?t, ?pr?'pri?t, IPA^(key): /??p???.p?i?.?t/, /??p???.p?i?.?t/
• (US) enPR: ?pr?'pri?t, ?pr?'pri?t, IPA^(key): /??p?o?.p?i.?t/, /??p?o?.p?i.?t/

Verb

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??p???.p?i?.e?t/
• (US) enPR: ?pr?'pri?t, IPA^(key): /??p?o?.p?i.e?t/

Adjective

appropriate (comparative more appropriate, superlative most appropriate)

1. Suitable or fit; proper.
   • 1798-1801, Beilby Porteus, Lecture XI delivered in the Parish Church of St. James, Westminster

     in its strict and appropriate meaning

   • 1710, Edward Stillingfleet, Several Conferences Between a Romish Priest, a Fanatick Chaplain, and a Divine of the Church of England Concerning the Idolatry of the Church of Rome

     appropriate acts of divine worship
2. Suitable to the social situation or to social respect or social discreetness; socially correct; socially discreet; well-mannered; proper.
3. (obsolete) Set apart for a particular use or person; reserved.

Synonyms

• (suited for): apt, felicitous, fitting, suitable; see also Thesaurus:suitable

Antonyms

• (all senses): inappropriate

Derived terms

• appropriateness

Related terms

• proper
• property

Translations

Verb

appropriate (third-person singular simple present appropriates, present participle appropriating, simple past and past participle appropriated)

1. (transitive, archaic) To make suitable to; to suit.
   • 1790, Helen Maria Williams, Julia, Routledge 2016, p. 67:

     Under the towers were a number of gloomy subterraneous apartments with vaulted roofs, the use of which imagination was left to guess, and could only appropriate to punishment and horror.

   • 1802, William Paley, Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity

     Were we to take a portion of the skin, and contemplate its exquisite sensibility, so finely appropriated […] we should have no occasion to draw our argument, for the twentieth time, from the structure of the eye or the ear.

2. (transitive) To take to oneself; to claim or use, especially as by an exclusive right.
3. (transitive) To set apart for, or assign to, a particular person or use, especially in exclusion of all others; with to or for.
   • 2012, The Washington Post, David Nakamura and Tom Hamburger, "Put armed police in every school, NRA urges"

     “I call on Congress today to act immediately to appropriate whatever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this nation,” LaPierre said.

4. (transitive, Britain, ecclesiastical, law) To annex (for example a benefice, to a spiritual corporation, as its property).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Blackstone to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (to take to oneself): help oneself, impropriate; see also Thesaurus:take or Thesaurus:steal
• (to set apart for): allocate, earmark; see also Thesaurus:set apart

Translations

Further reading

• appropriate at OneLook Dictionary Search
• appropriate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Italian

Adjective

appropriate f pl

1. feminine plural of appropriato