proprietor

American  

[pruh-prahy-i-ter] / prəˈpraɪ ɪ tər /

noun

• proprietors
  plural

1. 

   the owner of a business establishment, a hotel, etc.

2. a person who has the exclusive right or title to something; an owner, as of real property.

3. a group of proprietors; proprietary.

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proprietor British  

/ prəˈpraɪətə /

noun

1. an owner of an unincorporated business enterprise

2. a person enjoying exclusive right of ownership to some property

3. history a governor or body of governors of a proprietary colony

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonproprietor
  noun
• proprietorship
  noun
• proprietress
  noun
• proprietorial
  adjective
• proprietorially
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• proprietors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of proprietor

First recorded in 1630–40; propriet(ary) + -or ²

Explanation

Someone who owns a business or a property is a proprietor. A bookstore proprietor might wish she became a librarian instead so the books would come back. The first part of proprietor sounds a lot like "property," and a proprietor is someone with ownership of property. Sometimes a proprietor oversees the business, such as a restaurant proprietor who is also a chef or hostess, and other times a proprietor owns many businesses and has different people running them. A proprietor of a local bakery might make and sell his own donuts, while the proprietor of a chain of donut shops might work from an office managing the people who manage the stores.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

proprietor proprietors

A sole proprietor earning $60,000, for example, may be able to contribute as both employee and employer, plus make an age 50 catch-up contribution.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026

“It’s like a West End show coming to an end,” said Jeremy King, veteran restaurateur and the proprietor at Simpson’s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026

The proprietor of Los Angeles’ legendary Clifton’s has given up on reopening the shuttered venue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2026

"We are suffering a lot," said Kishor Dulera, a tile unit proprietor who closed this factory and two others in early March, sending hundreds of workers home.

From Barron's ● Mar. 29, 2026

They were worrying about something, the proprietor said, he didn’t know what.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

The change would be even harder for landscapers who work as sole proprietors, with a single vehicle and limited space for charging and storing equipment.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Next spring, Black Ankle’s proprietors will debut Live Edge Vineyards, a new winery in Clarksburg, not far from Burnt Hill.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

Bucket shop patrons were positioned heavily for Amalgamated to rise, so the proprietors shorted the stock “to establish as low a quotation as possible,” the Journal wrote.

From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026

This should lead to, among other thing, higher after-tax earnings for sole proprietors and small firms; stronger loan demand for community banks; and better exit economics for early stage investors, SocGen reckons.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 27, 2025

The food was elegant and expensive, and the aisles were overflowing with great streams of flushed and merry proprietors, all stout and balding.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller