Standard Lemma guide

proprietary

adj · noun · 13 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /pɹəˈpɹaɪ.ə.tə.ɹi/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /pɹəˈpɹaɪ.ə.tɹi/
  • Canada, General-American: /pɹəˈpɹaɪ.əˌtɛɹ.i/
  • California: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: /pɹəˈpɹɑɪ.ə.tə.ɹi/
  • Australian: /pɹəˈpɹɑɪ.ə.tɹi/
  • CMU ARPABET: P R AH0 P R AY1 AH0 T EH2 R IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or relating to property or ownership.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • proprietary rights

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: proprietorial

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Owning something; having ownership.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • the proprietary class

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: proprietorial

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Created or manufactured exclusively by the owner or licensee of intellectual property rights, as with a patent or trade secret.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The continuous profitability of the company is based on its many proprietary products.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: nonproprietary

4

adj

Meaning 4

Nonstandard and controlled by one particular organization.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • a proprietary extension to the HTML standard for Web page structure

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: nonproprietary, open source

5

adj

Meaning 5

Privately owned.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • a proprietary lake; a proprietary chapel

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adj

Meaning 6

Possessive, jealous, or territorial.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: proprietorial

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

A proprietor or owner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

A body of proprietors, taken collectively.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

The rights of a proprietor.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

A monk who had reserved goods and belongings to himself, notwithstanding his renunciation of all at the time of profession.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

noun

Meaning 11

A company doing legitimate business while also serving as a front for espionage.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: espionage, government, military, politics, war

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

12

adjective

Meaning 12

protected by trademark or patent or copyright; made or produced or distributed by one having exclusive rights

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • `Tylenol' is a proprietary drug of which `acetaminophen' is the generic form

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: nonproprietary

13

noun

Meaning 13

an unincorporated business owned by a single person who is responsible for its liabilities and entitled to its profits

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: proprietorship

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: ownership

History

Etymology

From French propriétaire, from Latin proprietārius. By surface analysis, propriety + -ary. Compare with the Latin proprietas (“property”) and proprius (“ownership”).

Across languages

Translations

77 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: на собственост (na sobstvenost) — relating to property or ownership
  • Dutch: eigendoms- — relating to property or ownership
  • Faroese: ognar- — relating to property or ownership
  • Finnish: oma — relating to property or ownership
  • Finnish: omistus- — relating to property or ownership
  • Georgian: მესაკუთრული (mesaḳutruli) — relating to property or ownership
  • Georgian: მესაკუთრეობრივი (mesaḳutreobrivi) — relating to property or ownership
  • Georgian: პროპრიეტარული (ṗroṗrieṭaruli) — relating to property or ownership
  • German: Eigentums- — relating to property or ownership
  • German: Eigentümer- — relating to property or ownership
  • Greek: ιδιοκτησιακός (idioktisiakós) — relating to property or ownership
  • Hebrew: קִנְיָנִי — relating to property or ownership
  • Hungarian: tulajdonjogi — relating to property or ownership
  • Hungarian: tulajdoni — relating to property or ownership
  • Polish: własnościowy — relating to property or ownership
  • Portuguese: proprietário — relating to property or ownership
  • Romanian: proprietar — relating to property or ownership
  • Romanian: de proprietate — relating to property or ownership
  • Russian: со́бственнический (sóbstvenničeskij) — relating to property or ownership
  • Russian: проприета́рный (proprijetárnyj) — relating to property or ownership
  • Serbo-Croatian: vlasnički — relating to property or ownership
  • Spanish: de propiedad — relating to property or ownership
  • Bulgarian: собственически (sobstveničeski) — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Dutch: bezittend — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Finnish: omistava — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Finnish: omistaja- — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Georgian: დაპატენტებული (daṗaṭenṭebuli) — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Georgian: პატენტიანი (ṗaṭenṭiani) — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • German: besitzend — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Hungarian: tulajdonosi — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Hungarian: vagyonos — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Polish: własnościowy — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Portuguese: proprietário — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Russian: патенто́ванный (patentóvannyj) — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Serbo-Croatian: vlasnički — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Swedish: ägande- — of or relating to the quality of being an owner
  • Bulgarian: патентован (patentovan) — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Faroese: navnvardur — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Faroese: navnvarnar- — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Finnish: alkuperäinen — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Finnish: alkuperäis- — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Finnish: omisteinen — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • German: proprietär — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • German: urheberrechtlich geschützt — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • German: geschützt — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Hungarian: szabadalmazott — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Hungarian: szabadalmaztatott — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Hungarian: bejegyzett — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Hungarian: védett — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Norwegian Bokmål: proprietær — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: proprietær — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Polish: markowy — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Portuguese: proprietário — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Russian: проприета́рный (proprijetárnyj) — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Serbo-Croatian: originalan — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Serbo-Croatian: licenciran — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Spanish: privativo — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Swedish: proprietär — created or manufactured exclusively by the IPR owner
  • Bulgarian: частен (časten) — privately owned
  • Bulgarian: личен (ličen) — privately owned
  • Danish: privateje — privately owned
  • Dutch: particulier — privately owned
  • Finnish: yksityisomisteinen — privately owned
  • Georgian: კერძო (ḳerʒo) — privately owned
  • German: privat — privately owned
  • German: Privat- — privately owned
  • German: Eigen- — privately owned
  • Hungarian: magán- — privately owned
  • Hungarian: magántulajdonú — privately owned
  • Polish: prywatny — privately owned
  • Portuguese: privado — privately owned
  • Portuguese: particular — privately owned
  • Russian: ча́стный (částnyj) — privately owned
  • Russian: прива́тный (privátnyj) — privately owned
  • Spanish: privado — privately owned
  • Spanish: particular — privately owned
  • Swedish: privatägd — privately owned
Real reading context

proprietary in complete knowledge articles