proprietary
- 01 C1 Advanced
adj.describing something that is owned by a company and cannot be used or copied by others without permission.
adj.relating to an owner or ownership; specifically, manufactured and sold only by the owner of the intellectual property rights.
Simple“The company uses proprietary software that no other business is allowed to buy.”
In context“The pharmaceutical giant maintains proprietary rights over the formula, preventing generic manufacturers from producing a cheaper version for the next decade.”
UsageOften used before nouns like 'software', 'technology', or 'information'.
SynonymsAntonymsopen sourcepublic - 02 C2 Proficiency
adj.behaving as if you own something or someone, often in a way that shows you are protective or jealous.
adj.expressing or manifesting a sense of ownership or exclusive rights, often used to describe a person's protective attitude or physical stance.
Simple“He put a proprietary arm around his daughter as the strangers approached.”
In context“She watched the restoration of the old house with a proprietary interest, despite having sold the property several months earlier.”
SynonymsAntonyms - 03 C2 Proficiency
n.a person who owns a business or a piece of land.
n.an individual or entity that holds legal title to a property or business.
Simple“The proprietary of the estate decided to open the gardens to the public.”
In context“The original charter granted the proprietary full authority over the colonial territory, including the right to collect taxes and appoint local officials.”
Teacher's tipIn modern English, the noun 'proprietor' is much more common than using 'proprietary' as a noun.
Synonyms
“Many remote sensing products rely on proprietary processing that researchers cannot fully access and verify, while some wildlife tracking devices provide only processed animal locations while withholding the underlying raw data.”
“AI companies often offer models in proprietary, open-weight and smaller open-source versions .”
From French propriétaire, from Latin proprietārius. By surface analysis, propriety + -ary. Compare with the Latin proprietas (“property”) and proprius (“ownership”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.