Proposed

How to spell proposed

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce proposed

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does proposed mean?

1. verbPut forward a plan, idea, or course of action for others to consider; also, made an offer of marriage.
2. adjectivePut forward as a plan but not yet agreed or carried out.

Proposed in a sentence

• verb

  The committee proposed a new schedule for the spring term.

• adjective

  Residents objected to the proposed motorway near their homes.

• verb

  He proposed to her during their holiday in the mountains.

• adjective

  The proposed merger still needs approval from shareholders.

Where does proposed come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb proponere, which combined pro, meaning 'forth' or 'forward', with ponere, meaning 'to place' or 'to put'; literally it meant to put something forward for others to consider. The Latin form influenced Old French, where the verb became proposer, partly by analogy with poser ('to place'), and English borrowed it during the 1300s. The modern senses, suggesting a plan and offering marriage, both grow naturally from that original idea of placing an idea before someone. The same ponere root sits inside a large family of English words, including compose, expose, deposit and position, so the spelling of 'pos' as the placing element is consistent across all of them. When you add the ordinary -ed ending you get 'proposed', and remembering the 'pose' core helps avoid wrongly writing it with a double letter.

How the word is built

• pro- (forth, forward)
• pos (to place, from Latin ponere)
• -ed (past tense / participle suffix)