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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Unit 2: Pivotal Words and Phrases
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Much Ado About Nothing
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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
He would wear the cap on one ear, and walk up and down in display, with a lofty smile, and a carriage supposed to appertain to a British officer in a grand moment.
From The Sea and the Jungle by Tomlinson, H. M. (Henry Major)
It was not perhaps, quite so fascinating to these two people with what we call conscience and the possession of what makes the greatness of humanity, whether it appertain to man or woman.
From The Cassowary What Chanced in the Cleft Mountains by Waterloo, Stanley
We had the same sense of identity as an infant has when it becomes aware that the delightful toe and the delightful mouth where it is inserted appertain vaguely to the one ego.
From Behind the Mirrors The Psychology of Disintegration at Washington by Gilbert, Clinton W. (Clinton Wallace)
Wilson, the chairman of the Military Committee, sustained the amendment, saying that the Hodge case did not appertain to military matters, but to finance, to the handling of public money.
From The Life of Lyman Trumbull by White, Horace
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.
