proprietary

[pruh-prahy-i-ter-ee]

adjective

1. belonging to a proprietor.

2. being a proprietor; holding property.

   the proprietary class.

3. pertaining to property or ownership.

   proprietary wealth.

4. belonging or controlled as property.

5. (of a brand name, product, service, formula, etc.) protected by a patent, copyright, or trademark.

   proprietary drugs; a proprietary name; a proprietary logo; a proprietary blend of ingredients.

6. privately owned and operated for profit.

   proprietary hospitals.

noun

plural

proprietaries 

1. an owner or proprietor.

2. a body of proprietors.

3. American History.,  the grantee or owner, or one of the grantees or owners, of a proprietary colony.

4. ownership.

5. something owned, especially real estate.

6. a proprietary medicine.

7. Also called proprietary school. a school organized as a profit-making venture primarily to teach vocational skills or self-improvement techniques.

proprietary

/ prəˈpraɪɪtərɪ, -trɪ /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or belonging to property or proprietors

2. privately owned and controlled

3. med of or denoting a drug or agent manufactured and distributed under a trade name Compare ethical

noun

1. med a proprietary drug or agent

2. a proprietor or proprietors collectively

3. 1. right to property

   2. property owned

4. Also called: lord proprietary. (in Colonial America) an owner, governor, or grantee of a proprietary colony

Other Word Forms

• proprietarily adverb
• nonproprietary adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of proprietary¹

1400–50; late Middle English (noun) < Medieval Latin proprietārius owner, noun use of Late Latin: of an owner, of ownership. See propriety, -ary

Word History and Origins

Origin of proprietary¹

C15: from Late Latin proprietārius an owner, from proprius one's own

Example Sentences

While there, he copied content from a proprietary MIT system onto discs.

Read more on MarketWatch

Engineers are accustomed to Nvidia’s proprietary software ecosystem, and some say they struggle with domestic alternatives, citing problems such as overheating, system crashes and a lack of software support.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

To keep them, they offered Hubler a special deal: his own proprietary trading group, with its own grandiose name: GPCG, or the Global Proprietary Credit Group.

Read more on Literature

Unlike the SAT, which considers its content proprietary, legally protected information, many of the America-First Assessment questions are publicly available.

Read more on Salon

Affleck began to print and market copies of his proprietary system of interlocking measurements, which sold widely among plantation owners.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• antidote 
• drug 
• elixir 
• fix 
• healing 
• medication 
• medicine 
• panacea 
• placebo 
• quick fix 
• recovery 
• remedy 
• treatment