different between proper vs ceremonious

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

From Middle French cérémonieux, from Late Latin caerimoniosus, from Latin caerimonia.

Adjective

ceremonious (comparative more ceremonious, superlative most ceremonious)

1. Fond of ceremony, ritual or strict etiquette; punctilious
   • 1608, Thomas Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle-Light in The Guls Hornbook and The Belman of London, J.M. Dent, 1936, p. 163, [1]

     […] some Writers do almost nothing contrary to the custome, and some by vertue of that Priviledge, dare doe any thing. I am neither of that first order, nor of this last. The one is too fondly-ceremonious, the other too impudently audacious.

   • 1958, C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, Harcourt Brace & Co., 1986, Chapter III, p. 23,

     Ancient and oriental cultures are in many ways more conventional, more ceremonious, and more courteous than our own.

2. Characterized by ceremony or rigid formality

   • O, the sacrifice! / How ceremonious, solemn and unearthly / It was i' the offering!

   • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 17, [2]

     Captain Vere advanced to meet him, […] and interrupting the other's wonted ceremonious salutation, said, "Nay, tell me how it is with yonder man," […]

Derived terms

• ceremoniously
• ceremoniousness
• unceremonious