Dictionary entries for 'properness'

Synonyms

prop·er (prŏṕər)

[Middle English propre, from Old French, from Latin proprius.]

adjective

Characterized by appropriateness or suitability; fitting: the proper knife for cutting bread; not a proper moment for a joke.
Called for by rules or conventions; correct: the proper form for a business letter.
Strictly following rules or conventions, especially in social behavior; seemly: a proper lady; a proper gentleman.
1. Belonging to one; own: restored to his proper shape by the magician.
2. Characteristically belonging to the being or thing in question; peculiar: an optical effect proper to fluids.
Being within the strictly limited sense, as of a term designating something: the town proper, excluding the suburbs.
Ecclesiastical For use in the liturgy of a particular feast or season of the year.
Mathematics Of or relating to a subset of a given set when the set has at least one element not in the subset.
Worthy of the name; true: wanted a proper dinner, not just a snack.
Out-and-out; thorough: a proper whipping.

Ecclesiastical

The parts of the liturgy that vary according to the particular feast or season of the year.