appertain

American  

[ap-er-teyn] / ˌæp ərˈteɪn /

verb (used without object)

1. to belong as a part, right, possession, attribute, etc.; pertain or relate (usually followed byto ).

   privileges that appertain to members of the royal family.

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appertain British  

/ ˌæpəˈteɪn /

verb

1. to belong (to) as a part, function, right, etc; relate (to) or be connected (with)

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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."

Example Sentences

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

Exercise the rights and perform the duties which appertain to her with regard to the legitimate and acknowledged natural children she may have had by another, and with relation to the property of the same.

From Marriage and Divorce Laws of the World by Ringrose, Hyacinthe

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

And then it should be borne in mind, that our controversy does not appertain so much to the character as to the origin of the Christian religion.

From The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors Or, Christianity Before Christ by Graves, Kersey