appertain
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
Etymology
Origin of appertain
1350–1400; Middle English a ( p ) perte ( y ) nen < Old French apertenir. See ap- 1, pertain
Explanation
Use the verb appertain when you need a formal way to say "officially concern." For example, you could argue, "Those mall rules don't appertain to me and my skateboard." You're most likely to see the word appertain followed by "to," meaning "apply to" or "relate to." Your parents' instructions, for example, appertain to you and your sisters; and passport laws appertain to any citizen who wants to travel to foreign countries. A closely related word is pertain, which has a similar but less formal or official meaning. Both words come from the Latin pertinere, "to relate, have reference to, or be applicable."
Vocabulary lists containing appertain
Julius Caesar
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Alaskan forest reserves still appertain to the Department of Agriculture.
From Time Magazine Archive
The artists belonging to the ceded portion will be considered by me in this school, to which they appertain, being educated in it, and instructing other pupils in it, in their turn.
From The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. IV (of 6) from the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century by Lanzi, Luigi Antonio
It is, then, in the republication of foreign works that our publishers ought to find an element of certainty, which cannot appertain to the publication of original and untried productions.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 20, No. 120, October, 1867. by Various
In himself are treasured all the honors, dignities, and rewards that appertain to a worthy devotee of wisdom.
From Abraham Lincoln's Cardinal Traits; A Study in Ethics, with an Epilogue Addressed to Theologians by Beardslee, Clark S.
But to what portion of sovereignty does it appertain?
From Monopolies and the People by Cloud, D. C.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
