propound
Americanverb (used with object)
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propounds,
present (3rd person singular)
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propounded,
past participle, past
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propounding
present participle
verb
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to suggest or put forward for consideration
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English law
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to produce (a will or similar instrument) to the proper court or authority in order for its validity to be established
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(of an executor) to bring (an action to obtain probate) in solemn form
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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propoundsimple
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propoundssimple
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have propoundedperfect
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has propoundedperfect
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am propoundingprogressive
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are propoundingprogressive
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is propoundingprogressive
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have been propoundingperfect progressive
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has been propoundingperfect progressive
Past
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propoundedsimple
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had propoundedperfect
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was propoundingprogressive
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were propoundingprogressive
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had been propoundingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of propound
1545–55; later variant of Middle English propone ( see propone) < Latin prōpōnere to set forth, equivalent to prō- pro- 1 + pōnere to put, place, set. See compound 1, expound
Explanation
When you propound an idea, you put it forward. If you tell your teacher that listening to music in class would help students do their work, then you propound the idea that music can be a motivator. The word propound is a little bit formal and often used in reference to something that’s weighty and serious. Beloved by academics of all types, you might hear someone propound, say, his theory of logocentrism in the works of Jacques Derrida. Don’t worry: you don’t need to understand the theory, you just need to understand that propound means he’s putting it out there.
Vocabulary lists containing propound
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
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The Importance of Being Earnest
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The Turn of the Screw
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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.
See Examples For:
"And no matter what you may think, Mr. Kennedy. And I revere your name. You're not here to propound your case for censorship," Connolly said.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2023
But the plays don’t hector or propound moral lessons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2022
“We can’t wait to propound searing questions about the finances of these individuals and these groups.”
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 14, 2021
Leaders like FDR, JFK, Wałęsa, and Nehru demonstrated that democrats can propound powerful liberal-national narratives.
From Slate ● Jul. 3, 2020
I was not free from apprehension that he would come back to propound through the gate, “And sixteen?”
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
After all, each house adapts rules to its own purposes; “Chicago” propounds rules with a soft authority, a gentle firmness.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 12, 2017
Whereas previous jihadist narratives were all about “resistance” to imagined enemies, IS propounds what Mr Winter calls “the propaganda of the winner”.
From Economist ● Aug. 13, 2015
Whereas once I lauded this program, now I am absolutely disgusted by the moral nihilism it propounds.
From Time ● Apr. 1, 2013
The Conclusion to his book of Renaissance essays, published in 1873, was seized on for the ardour with which Pater propounds a philosophy of beauty.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 26, 2011
The Bishop of Derry raises a question upon which a good deal might be said, when he propounds a theory to the effect that Victor Hugo possesses fancy rather than imagination.
From Victor Hugo: His Life and Works by G. Barnett Smith
Many economists who propounded the inevitability of business cycles, including Kuznets, Hayek, Paul Samuelson and James Tobin, have won Nobel Prizes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Although the court ruled unanimously for the Sacketts, the three liberal judges were joined by conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh in articulating different reasons than the one propounded by the majority.
From Salon ● May 27, 2023
And it ends with one of them stepping on a butterfly and changing the course of history — 20 years before the chaos theoretician Edward Norton Lorenz propounded the “butterfly effect.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2023
He characterized as “fantasy” another idea, propounded by British author Robin Mackness in the best-selling 1988 book “Oradour: Massacre and Aftermath,” that the Nazis attacked Oradour in search of gold stolen by the resistance.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 28, 2023
Ai says that similar theories have been propounded by Terran scholars to explain the still incomplete recession of their last Age of Ice.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Nor is it permissible to start a lawsuit propounding the client’s thesis, simply hoping that some support for the claim may turn up.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 1, 2020
Fighting open white supremacism, defending human rights and the rule of law, propounding international cooperation, rejecting narrow nationalism, so many of these debates seem to belong to another age.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 22, 2020
While Bailenson has been propounding this rather unsexy vision of virtual reality for years, it’s worth noting that he now has a vested interest in it as well.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2016
Revisionist takes on characters have a pleasing audacity, but Morrison isn't so much propounding a thesis as approaching a classic with a different level of political awareness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2015
A terrible sphinx propounding a terrible riddle; the riddle of the existence of Evil.
From Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
