Appropriate

How to spell appropriate

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce appropriate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does appropriate mean?

1. adjectiveSuitable or fitting for a particular situation, person, or purpose.
2. verbTo take something for one's own use, often without permission, or to set money aside for a particular purpose.

Appropriate in a sentence

• adjective

  Wearing a suit was the appropriate choice for the interview.

• verb

  The council voted to appropriate funds for road repairs.

• adjective

  The manager said the comment was not appropriate for a staff meeting.

• verb

  It is wrong to appropriate a colleague's ideas without credit.

Where does appropriate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the late Latin verb appropriare, meaning 'to make one's own', which was built from the prefix ad- 'to, toward' and the adjective proprius, meaning 'one's own' or 'special to oneself'. That same proprius root sits behind a whole family of familiar English words, including 'property', 'proper', and 'proprietor', all of which carry the idea of something belonging to a particular person. English took the word in during the late 1300s and 1400s, by way of Old French, first in the sense of taking something for one's own use. The adjective meaning 'fitting' or 'suitable' grew out of the idea of something being proper or specially suited to a situation. The doubled p and the single p in the middle are the spelling trap: remember ap- plus propri, since the prefix delivers one p and the root proprius delivers the next.

How the word is built

• ap- (variant of ad-: to, toward)
• propri (from Latin proprius: one's own)
• -ate (verb/adjective suffix)