property

American  

[prop-er-tee] / ˈprɒp ər ti /

noun

properties plural

1. that which a person owns; the possession or possessions of a particular owner.

   They lost all their property in the fire.

2. goods, land, etc., considered as possessions.

   The corporation is a means for the common ownership of property.

3. a piece of land or real estate.

   property on Main Street.

   Synonyms:

   acreage

4. ownership; right of possession, enjoyment, or disposal of anything, especially of something tangible.

   to have property in land.

5. something at the disposal of a person, a group of persons, or the community or public.

   The secret of the invention became common property.

6. an essential or distinctive attribute or quality of a thing.

   the chemical and physical properties of an element.

   Synonyms:

   feature

7. Logic.

   1. any attribute or characteristic.

   2. (in Aristotelian logic) an attribute not essential to a species but always connected with it and with it alone.

8. Also called prop.  a usually movable item, other than costumes or scenery, used on the set of a theater production, motion picture, etc.; any object handled or used by an actor in a performance.

9. a written work, play, movie, etc., bought or optioned for commercial production or distribution.

10. a person, especially one under contract in entertainment or sports, regarded as having commercial value.

    an actor who was a hot property at the time.

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property British  

/ ˈprɒpətɪ /

noun

1. something of value, either tangible, such as land, or intangible, such as patents, copyrights, etc

2. law the right to possess, use, and dispose of anything

3. possessions collectively or the fact of owning possessions of value

4. 1. a piece of land or real estate, esp used for agricultural purposes

   2. ( as modifier )

      property rights

5. a ranch or station, esp a small one

6. a quality, attribute, or distinctive feature of anything, esp a characteristic attribute such as the density or strength of a material

7. obsolete logic another name for proprium

8. Usually shortened to: prop.  any movable object used on the set of a stage play or film

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Synonym Usage

Property, chattels, effects, estate, goods refer to what is owned. Property is the general word: She owns a great deal of property. He said that the umbrella was his property. Chattels is a term for pieces of personal property or movable possessions; it may be applied to livestock, automobiles, etc.: a mortgage on chattels. Effects is a term for any form of personal property, including even things of the least value: All his effects were insured against fire. Estate refers to property of any kind that has been, or is capable of being, handed down to descendants or otherwise disposed of in a will: He left most of his estate to his niece. It may consist of personal estate (money, valuables, securities, chattels, etc.), or real estate (land and buildings). Goods refers to household possessions or other movable property, especially that comprising the stock in trade of a business: The store arranged its goods on shelves. See quality.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• propertyless
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• properties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of property

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English proprete “possession, attribute, what is one's own,” from propre proper + -te -ty ²; see propriety

Explanation

What you own or have, like a car or clothes, is your property. The qualities that a thing has are its properties. Aloe is a plant with medicinal properties — it soothes burns. If you see a sign that says, "Private property, keep off," the land-owner does not want you to go on his or her land. If you go on it anyway, you're trespassing. You'll often hear people talking about property values. When they say this, they really just mean how much the land they own is worth. People like to talk about property values when they are on the rise. When they are falling, not so much.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

property properties

Wildfires come with a human impact too, above and beyond the obvious physical damage they cause to land and sometimes property.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Its cost-to-income ratio declined to 38.9% in 2Q from 42.3% a year earlier thanks to cost control, higher operational efficiency and lower property provisions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Katherine had moved into her Hollywood home in 2014, when she purchased it for $1 million through a trust, according to property records.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026

"The court took into account the sharp rise in the value of the defendant's shareholdings when determining the property division ratio," Friday's court statement said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026

A shiny new chain-link fence surrounded the property, and the weeds that once overran the parking lot had been cleared.

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

But Sell also has mortgages and commercial notes on his properties, putting his net worth as low as negative $2.8 million and as high as $13.9 million.

From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026

According to the researchers, this organized growth helps the repaired surface recover both the microscopic architecture and the physical properties of healthy enamel.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026

Some clinics call it the “wolverine compound” because of its healing properties, though New Zealand has recommended that BPC-157 is classified as a prescription drug.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

The company has already brought in a hospipe ban for 33,000 properties in west Wales.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

Statistical mechanics—the theory of wiggles—explained some of the basic properties of matter, and it even seemed to explain the nature of light itself.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

Related Words

• equity
• estate
• farm
• goods
• home
• house
• land
• ownership
• plot
• tract
• wealth
• worth