proper
marked by suitability or rightness or appropriateness
How often you will meet it
Rank 1,158 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 15,921 times across 175,160 chapters — 0.008% of every word in the library.
What it means
adjective
- marked by suitability or rightness or appropriateness proper medical treatmentproper manners
- having all the qualities typical of the thing specified wanted a proper dinner, not just a snackhe finally has a proper job
- limited to the thing specified the city properhis claim is connected with the deed proper
- appropriate for a condition or purpose or occasion or a person's character, needs also: right everything in its proper placethe right man for the job
proper in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
-
Mere conventions he rates at their proper value.
Elizabethan Sonnet Cycles: Phillis - Licia · Martha Foote [Editor] Crow · Chapter 1
-
The system is really wonderfully easy, and, with proper instruction, a child could do it.
Punch — Volume 99, August 16, 1890 · Various · Chapter 1
-
And again, with a big subject like mine, you want to step back to get the proper focus.
Punch — Volume 101, November 7, 1891 · Various · Chapter 1
-
She knew everybody and had done everything in her youth, a good many things not considered highly proper.
Emily Fox-Seton · Frances Hodgson Burnett · Chapter 1
-
Mlle. Lucienne’s carriage was now caught in the file; and he was sure of joining it whenever he thought proper.
Other People's Money · Emile Gaboriau · Chapter 1