proprietary

American  

[pruh-prahy-i-ter-ee] / prəˈpraɪ ɪˌtɛr i /

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.

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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 British  

/ 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

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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

• nonproprietary adjective
• proprietarily adverb

Etymology

Origin of proprietary

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

Example Sentences

Tesla sued Anderson, accusing him of taking proprietary documents and improperly colluding to recruit Autopilot employees to work at Aurora.

From The Wall Street Journal

For instance, the reinsurance giant SwissRe credits the work of the center in the development of its proprietary forecasting tool known as the CatNet.

From Los Angeles Times

Woodstock’s bananas are steamed and mashed with “proprietary enzymes” to release nutrients.

From Los Angeles Times

Oracle’s pitch to customers is that they can use proprietary data that is already in Oracle’s leading database software and use it for AI.

From Barron's

UBS has built a proprietary model to predict activity by macro hedge funds into option expiry and they anticipate major sensitivity around the 6850 level on the S&P 500.

From MarketWatch

Related Words

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