different between proper vs average

English

Alternative forms

• propre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English propre, from Anglo-Norman proper, propre, Old French propre (French: propre), from Latin proprius.

Pronunciation

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?p??p.?/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p??p.?(?)/
• (US) enPR: präp??r, IPA^(key): /?p??.p?/
• Rhymes: -?p?(?)
• Hyphenation: prop?er

Adjective

proper (comparative more proper, superlative most proper)

1. (heading) Suitable.
   1. Suited or acceptable to the purpose or circumstances; fit, suitable. [13th c.]
   2. Following the established standards of behavior or manners; correct or decorous. [18th c.]

      • This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. […] Indeed, all his features were in large mold, like the man himself, as though he had come from a day when skin garments made the proper garb of men.

2. (heading) Possessed, related.
   1. (grammar) Used to designate a particular person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are usually written with an initial capital letter. [14th c.]
   2. Pertaining exclusively to a specific thing or person; particular. [14th c.]
      • , II.1.3:

        They have a proper saint almost for every peculiar infirmity: for poison, gouts, agues […].

      • 1829, James Marsh, Preliminary Essay to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Aids to Reflection

        those higher and peculiar attributes […] which constitute our proper humanity

   3. (usually postpositive) In the strict sense; within the strict definition or core (of a specified place, taxonomic order, idea, etc).
      • 1893, Annual of the Universal Medical Sciences:

        These are divided into two great families, the vipers proper (Viperidae) and the pit-vipers (Crotalidae).

      • 1976, Eu-Yang Kwang, The political reconstruction of China, page 165:

        Siberia, though it stands outside the territorial confines of Russia proper, constitutes an essentially component part […] . Outer Mongolia, [so called] to distinguish it from Inner Mongolia, which lies nearer to China proper, revolted and declared its independence.

      • 2004, Stress, the Brain and Depression, page 24:

        Hence, this border is still blurred, raising the question whether traumatic life events induce sadness/distress – which is self-evident – or depression proper and, secondly, whether sadness/distress is a precursor or pacemaker of depression.

      • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:proper.
   4. (archaic) Belonging to oneself or itself; own. [14th c.]
      • 1717, John Dryden, Meleager and Atalanta

        Now learn the difference, at your proper cost, / Betwixt true valour and an empty boast.

      • , II.4.1.ii:

        every country, and more than that, every private place, hath his proper remedies growing in it, particular almost to the domineering and most frequent maladies of it.

      • 1946, Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, I.20:

        Each animal has its proper pleasure, and the proper pleasure of man is connected with reason.

   5. (heraldry) Portrayed in natural or usual coloration, as opposed to conventional tinctures. [16th c.]
   6. (mathematics) Being strictly part of some other thing (not necessarily explicitly mentioned, but of definitional importance), and not being the thing itself. [20th c.]

   7. (mathematics, physics) Eigen-; designating a function or value which is an eigenfunction or eigenvalue. [20th c.]
3. (heading) Accurate, strictly applied.
   1. Excellent, of high quality; such as the specific person or thing should ideally be. (Now often merged with later senses.) [14th c.]

   2. (now regional) Attractive, elegant. [14th c.]
      • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts 7:

        The same tyme was Moses borne, and was a propper [transl. ??????? (asteîos)] childe in the sight of God, which was norisshed up in his fathers housse thre monethes.

   3. (often postpositive) In the very strictest sense of the word. [14th c.]
   4. (now colloquial) Utter, complete. [15th c.]

Synonyms

• (fit, suitable): correct, right, apt, prudent, upright, sensible, fitting
• (correct, decorous): appropriate, decent, good, polite, right, well-mannered, upright
• (fitting, right): appropriate, just, honorable
• (complete, thorough): comprehensive, royal, sweeping, intensive
• (strictly, properly-speaking): strictly speaking, properly speaking, par excellence
• (true): full, complete
• (informal: utter): complete, right (informal), total, utter

Antonyms

• (fit, suitable): incorrect, wrong, bad, imprudent, insensible, improper
• (correct, decorous): inappropriate, indecent, bad, impolite, wrong, ill-mannered, unseemly
• (fitting, right): inappropriate, unjust, dishonorable
• (complete, thorough): partial, incomplete, superficial, slapdash
• (true): incomplete

Related terms

• appropriate
• propriety
• properly

Translations

See also

• proper adjective
• proper fraction
• proper noun

Adverb

proper (not comparable)

1. (Britain, Australia, colloquial) properly; thoroughly; completely.
   • 1964, Saint Andrew Society (Glasgow, Scotland), The Scots magazine: Volume 82

     Don't you think you must have looked proper daft?

2. (nonstandard, colloquial) properly.
   • 2012, Soufside, Hello (song)

     When I meet a bad chick, know I gotta tell her hello

     talk real proper, but she straight up out the ghetto

Noun

proper (plural propers)

1. (obsolete) Something set apart for a special use.

Anagrams

• per pro, propre

Catalan

Etymology

prop +? -er.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /p?o?pe/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /p?u?pe/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /p?o?pe?/

Adjective

proper (feminine propera, masculine plural propers, feminine plural properes)

1. near, close

   Synonym: pròxim

2. neighbouring
3. next

   Synonym: següent

Synonyms

• (the coming day, week, year etc.): que ve, venint

Related terms

• prop

Further reading

• “proper” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French propre (“clean, house-trained, own”), from Latin proprius (“own”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pro?b?r/, [?p???o??b??]

Adjective

proper

1. cleanly
2. tidy

Inflection

Derived terms

• properhed ("cleanliness", "tidiness")

References

• “proper” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pro?.p?r/
• Hyphenation: pro?per

Etymology

From Middle Dutch proper, from Old French propre, from Latin proprius.

Adjective

proper (comparative properder, superlative properst)

1. (chiefly Belgium) clean

Inflection

Synonyms

• netjes, rein, zindelijk.
• (Netherlands) schoon.

German

Etymology

Ultimately from Old French propre, from Latin proprius. Probably borrowed in north-western dialects via Middle Dutch proper [13th c., sense: 15th c.], later generalized under the influence of modern French propre. The colloquial euphemism for “chubby” may, in part, be due to association with Proppen (whence also proppenvoll and Wonneproppen).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p??p?/

Adjective

proper (comparative properer, superlative am propersten)

1. (somewhat informal, dated) in good condition: clean; neat; well-kept; developed

2. (colloquial, euphemistic) overweight; chubby

Declension

Further reading

• “proper” in Duden online

Old French

Adjective

proper m (oblique and nominative feminine singular proper)

1. (rare) Alternative form of propre

   Or a mai entendez Ki proper volunté amez, Set Pechez 70

English

Etymology 1

From Middle French avarie, from Old French avarie, from Old Italian avaria (which is possibly from Arabic ???????????? (?aw?riyya, “damaged goods”), from ??????? (?aw?r, “fault, blemish, defect, flaw”), from ??????? (?awira, “to lose an eye”)) + English suffix -age.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) enPR: ?v??r?j, ?v?r?j IPA^(key): /?æv???d??/, /?æv??d??/

Noun

average (plural averages)

1. (mathematics) The arithmetic mean.

   The average of 10, 20 and 24 is (10 + 20 + 24)/3 = 18.

2. (statistics) Any measure of central tendency, especially any mean, the median, or the mode. [from c. 1735]
3. (law, marine) Financial loss due to damage to transported goods; compensation for damage or loss. [from 15th c.]
   • 2008, Filiberto Agusti, Beverley Earle, Richard Schaffer, Filiberto Agusti, Beverley Earle, International Business Law and Its Environment, page 219,

     Historically, the courts have allowed a general average claim only where the loss occurred as a result of the ship being in immediate peril. […] The court awarded the carrier the general average claim. It noted that “a ship?s master should not be discouraged from taking timely action to avert a disaster,” and need not be in actual peril to claim general average.

4. Customs duty or similar charge payable on transported goods.
5. Proportional or equitable distribution of financial expense.
6. (sports) An indication of a player's ability calculated from his scoring record, etc.

7. (Britain, in the plural) In the corn trade, the medial price of the several kinds of grain in the principal corn markets.

Usage notes

• (mathematics, statistics): The term average may refer to the statistical mean, median or mode of a batch, sample, or distribution, or sometimes any other measure of central tendency. Statisticians and responsible news sources are careful to use whichever of these specific terms is appropriate. In common usage, average refers to the arithmetic mean. It is, however, a common rhetorical trick to call the most favorable of mean, median and mode the "average" depending on the interpretation of a set of figures that the speaker or writer wants to promote.

Coordinate terms

• (measure of central tendency): arithmetic mean, geometric mean, harmonic mean, mean, median, mode

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

average (comparative more average, superlative most average)

1. (not comparable) Constituting or relating to the average.

2. Neither very good nor very bad; rated somewhere in the middle of all others in the same category.

3. Typical.
   • 2002, Andy Turnbull, The Synthetic Beast: When Corporations Come to Life, page 12,

     We tend to think that exceptionally attractive men and women are outstanding but the fact is that they are more average than most.

   • 2004, Deirdre V. Lovecky, Different Minds: Gifted Children with AD/HD, Asperger Syndrome, and Other Learning Deficits, page 75,

     Things that never would occur to more average children, with and without AD/HD, will give these children nightmares.

   • 2009, Susan T. Fiske, Social Beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology, page 73,

     In other words, highly attractive people like highly attractive communicators and more average people like more average communicators.

4. (informal) Not outstanding, not good, banal; bad or poor.
   • 2002, Andy Slaven, Video Game Bible, 1985-2002, page 228,

     The graphics, sound, and most everything else are all very average. However, the main thing that brings this game down are the controls - they feel very clumsy and awkward at times.

   • 2005, Brad Knight, Laci Peterson: The Whole Story: Laci, Scott, and Amber's Deadly Love Triangle, page 308,

     But what the vast majority of the populace doesn?t realise is the fact that he?s only on TV because he became famous from one case, Winona Ryder's, which, by the way, he lost because he?s only a very average attorney.

   • 2009, Carn Tiernan, On the Back of the Other Side, page 62,

     In the piano stool there was a stack of music, mostly sentimental ballads intended to be sung by people with very average voices accompanied by not very competent pianists.

Synonyms

• (constituting or relating to the average): av., ave., avg., expectation (colloquial), mean
• (neither very good nor very bad): mediocre, medium, middle-ranking, middling, unremarkable, so-so, comme ci comme ça
• (typical): conventional, normal, regular, standard, typical, usual, bog-standard (slang)
• (not outstanding, not good; bad or poor): ordinary, uninspiring

Antonyms

• (neither very good nor very bad): extraordinary

Derived terms

• average bear
• average Joe
• averagely
• averageness

Translations

Verb

average (third-person singular simple present averages, present participle averaging, simple past and past participle averaged)

1. (transitive) To compute the average of, especially the arithmetic mean.

   If you average 10, 20 and 24, you get 18.

2. (transitive) Over a period of time or across members of a population, to have or generate a mean value of.
3. (transitive) To divide among a number, according to a given proportion.

   to average a loss

4. (intransitive) To be, generally or on average.
   • 1872 Elliott Coues, Key to North American Birds

     Gulls average much larger than terns, with stouter build […]

Derived terms

• average down
• average out
• average up
• averageable
• unaveraged

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English average, from Medieval Latin averagium, from aver (“horse or other beast of burden, service required from the same”) from Old English eafor (“obligation to carry goods and convey messages for one's lord”) from aferian (“to remove, take away”); + -age.

Noun

average (plural averages)

1. (Britain, law, obsolete) The service that a tenant owed his lord, to be done by the animals of the tenant, such as the transportation of wheat, turf, etc.

German

Etymology

From English average.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?æv???d??], [??v???t?]
• Hyphenation: ave?rage

Adjective

average (not comparable)

1. (dated, business) average

Further reading

• “average” in Duden online

Middle French

Etymology

The Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch derives the word from Old French aver +? -age, where aver means "cattle" and is cognate to English aver (“work-horse, working ox, or other beast of burden”). The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1993) compares it to Medieval Latin averagium, from averia (“beast of burden”) (which the Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch in turn links to habe? (“to have”)).

Noun

average m (plural averages)

1. average (service that a tenant owed his lord, to be done by the animals of the tenant, such as the transportation of wheat, turf, etc.)

References

• average on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (average)