proprietary
Americanadjective
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belonging to a proprietor.
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being a proprietor; holding property.
the proprietary class.
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pertaining to property or ownership.
proprietary wealth.
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belonging or controlled as property.
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(of a brand name, product, service, formula, etc.) protected by a patent, copyright, or trademark.
proprietary drugs; a proprietary name; a proprietary logo; a proprietary blend of ingredients.
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privately owned and operated for profit.
proprietary hospitals.
noun
plural
proprietaries-
an owner or proprietor.
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a body of proprietors.
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American History. the grantee or owner, or one of the grantees or owners, of a proprietary colony.
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something owned, especially real estate.
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a proprietary medicine.
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Also called proprietary school. a school organized as a profit-making venture primarily to teach vocational skills or self-improvement techniques.
adjective
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of, relating to, or belonging to property or proprietors
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privately owned and controlled
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med of or denoting a drug or agent manufactured and distributed under a trade name Compare ethical
noun
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med a proprietary drug or agent
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a proprietor or proprietors collectively
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right to property
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property owned
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Also called: lord proprietary. (in Colonial America) an owner, governor, or grantee of a proprietary colony
Other Word Forms
- nonproprietary adjective
- proprietarily adverb
Etymology
Origin of proprietary
1400–50; late Middle English (noun) < Medieval Latin proprietārius owner, noun use of Late Latin: of an owner, of ownership. See propriety, -ary
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.
“It reflects how ownership and control actually work in the real world, cutting through complex multilayered structures across jurisdictions and reflecting years of proprietary data curation.”
From Barron's
Experts suggest the market overlooks nuances, seeing opportunities in software companies with proprietary data and undervalued sectors amid AI fears.
From Barron's
But researchers at the bank use a proprietary price measure to try to pinpoint the underlying rate of inflation by stripping out any temporary factors, including the effects of the shutdown and limited data collection.
From MarketWatch
These data sets are then used to train proprietary models with novel architectures that are adapted to the sector employing them.
“Chinese companies have more proprietary data and solid experience” in these types of apps, Khawaja said in an email.
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.