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.
"A caller would come singularly malapropos just now," said he.
From Jason by Forman, Justus Miles
"Ah! before instead of after, when I only see I have said something malapropos," said Ethel.
From The Daisy chain, or Aspirations by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
Mrs. Lashmar had a genius for the malapropos.
From Our Friend the Charlatan by Gissing, George
Fanny made malapropos speeches sometimes still, but they were never unkindly meant now, and she looked with very loving eyes from one sister to the other.
From Janet's Love and Service by Robertson, Margaret M. (Margaret Murray)
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 Fuller, Henry Blake
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.
