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adj. 1. Characterized by appropriateness or suitability; fitting: the proper knife for cutting bread; not a proper moment for a joke. 2. Called for by rules or conventions; correct: the proper form for a business letter. 3. Strictly following rules or conventions, especially in social behavior; seemly: a proper lady; a proper gentleman. 4. a. Belonging to one; own: restored to his proper shape by the magician. b. Characteristically belonging to the being or thing in question; peculiar: an optical effect proper to fluids. 5. Being within the strictly limited sense, as of a term designating something: the town proper, excluding the suburbs. 6. Ecclesiastical For use in the liturgy of a particular feast or season of the year. 7. Mathematics Of or relating to a subset of a given set when the set has at least one element not in the subset. 8. Worthy of the name; true: wanted a proper dinner, not just a snack. 9. Out-and-out; thorough: a proper whipping. adv. Thoroughly: beat the eggs good and proper. n. also Proper Ecclesiastical The portion of the liturgy that varies according to the particular feast or season of the year. [Middle English propre, from Old French, from Latin proprius; see per1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] proper·ly adv. proper·ness n. |
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