malapropos

American  

[mal-ap-ruh-poh] / ˌmæl æp rəˈpoʊ /

adjective

1. inappropriate; out of place; inopportune; untimely.

   a malapropos remark.

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adverb

1. inappropriately; inopportunely.

malapropos British  

/ ˌmælæprəˈpəʊ /

adjective

1. of an inappropriate or misapplied nature or kind

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adverb

1. in an inappropriate way or manner

noun

1. something inopportune or inappropriate

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

Now and then their comments, after the manner of their age, were keenly malapropos and occasioned a sense of embarrassment.

From The Storm Centre by Murfree, Mary Noailles

So Christina, snubbed and blamed for her malapropos question, subsided into sullen indifference externally, while inwardly passing on the blame for her correction to Theodora, who, she decided, was going to be unlucky to her.

From A Reconstructed Marriage by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston

On the other hand, never express dissatisfaction with a response, however absurd or malapropos it may be.

From The Measurement of Intelligence An Explanation of and a Complete Guide for the Use of the Stanford Revision and Extension of the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale by Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson

Its suggestions were so visionary, its reasoning so fallacious, its assumptions so unwarranted, its conclusions so malapropos, that it falls below critical examination.

From A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln Condensed from Nicolay & Hay's Abraham Lincoln: A History by Nicolay, John George

This malapropos discovery, materially diminished the pleasure we had before experienced, on first seeing a new part of the continent.

From Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1. With an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During The Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43. By Command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative Of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits to the Islands in the Arafura Sea. by Stokes, John Lort