malapropos
Americanadjective
adverb
adjective
adverb
noun
Etymology
Origin of malapropos
First recorded in 1660–70, malapropos is from French mal à propos “badly (suited) to the purpose”
Explanation
It would be malapropos to wear full clown makeup to your cousin's formal wedding. In other words, it wouldn't be appropriate. Use the adjective malapropos to describe something that is awkwardly unsuitable for the situation or setting at hand. Telling jokes at a funeral or bringing your pet piglet to tea at the Queen's castle would both be highly malapropos. The word comes from the French phrase mal à propos, literally "badly for the purpose." As it's French, you don't pronounce the final s.
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.
Then, on another occasion, he breaks in upon the lofty spiritualities of our Lord's final discourse to His disciples, with the malapropos request, 'Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.'
From Expositions of Holy Scripture St. John Chapters I to XIV by Alexander Maclaren
Johnnie Green chose this malapropos moment for reminding the officers of the reason for the coming to the house.
From The Big-Town Round-Up by William MacLeod Raine
It was a remark that seemed particularly malapropos to the sultry weather, and Constance half expected a burst of laughter at the unexpected sally.
From Constance Dunlap by Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin) Reeve
I rushed over towards her, and when close was about to say impulsively, “Why did you leave your tomb?” when it suddenly struck me that the question would be malapropos and embarrassing in many ways.
From The Lady of the Shroud by Bram Stoker
She took, in this malapropos manoeuvre, the same delight that a child experiences through the consciousness of being engaged in some mischievous wrong.
From With the Procession by Henry Blake Fuller
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.
