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  

/ prəˌpraɪəˈtɔːrɪəl, 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

However, there are other risks associated with being a sole proprietor that should be considered.

From MarketWatch ● May 26, 2026

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2026

Family and friends were able to support borrowers through new, so-called joint borrower, sole proprietor mortgages.

From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2026

Elsewhere, many agencies operate with only a business license and a sole proprietor or small staff.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025

And have the proprietor frown, and know we’re lying, but still nod.

From "Feed" by M.T. Anderson

The owner’s vile crankery doesn’t prevail among New York coffee-shop proprietors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 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

But sole proprietors have to pay both parts of the self-employment tax on all income, whereas S corps can get a break here.

From Salon ● Dec. 2, 2024

As early as 1852 there was a restaurant at the summit and the proprietors were serving about a hundred meals a day.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson