propriety

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: pro=pri=e=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

propriety, n. [F. propriété, L. proprietas, fr. proprius one's own, proper. See Property, Proper.].

•  Individual right to hold property; ownership by personal title; property.  Robynson (More's Utopia).  [1913 Webster]

  "So are the proprieties of a wife to be disposed of by her lord, and yet all are for her provisions, it being a part of his need to refresh and supply hers."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which is proper or peculiar; an inherent property or quality; peculiarity.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]

  "We find no mention hereof in ancient zoögraphers, . . . who seldom forget proprieties of such a nature."  [1913 Webster]
•  The quality or state of being proper; suitableness to an acknowledged or correct standard or rule; consonance with established principles, rules, or customs; fitness; appropriateness; as, propriety of behavior, language, manners, etc.  Locke.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

propriety, n. (pl. -ies)
1 fitness; rightness (doubt the propriety of refusing him).
2 correctness of behaviour or morals (highest standards of propriety).
3 (in pl.) the details or rules of correct conduct (must observe the proprieties).

Etymology

ME, = ownership, peculiarity f. OF propriet{eacute} PROPERTY

THESAURUS

propriety

Atticism, admissibility, advantage, advantageousness, advisability, amenities, applicability, appositeness, appropriateness, aptitude, aptness, auspiciousness, becomingness, beneficialness, bienseance, breeding, ceremony, chargedness, chasteness, chastity, civilities, civility, clarity, classicalism, classicism, clearness, comeliness, conformity, convenance, convenience, convention, conventional usage, conventionalism, conventionality, correctitude, correctness, courtesy, criticality, crucialness, custom, decencies, decency, decorousness, decorum, defensibility, delicacy, desirability, dignity, directness, discrimination, distinction, drumhead justice, dueness, ease, elegance, elegancy, equitableness, equity, etiquette, evenhandedness, expedience, expediency, favorableness, feasibility, felicitousness, felicity, finish, fitness, fittedness, fittingness, flow, flowing periods, fluency, form, formality, fruitfulness, genteelness, gentility, give-and-take, good form, good taste, goodness, grace, gracefulness, gracility, happiness, health, justice, justifiability, justifiableness, justification, justness, lawfulness, legality, limpidity, loadedness, lucidity, mannerliness, measure for measure, meetness, modesty, mores, naturalism, naturalness, naturism, neatness, nemesis, niceness, normalcy, normality, normalness, normativeness, opportuneness, order, orderliness, pellucidity, percentage, perspicuity, plainness, poetic justice, polish, politeness, politesse, politicness, pregnancy, profit, profitability, properness, propitiousness, proprieties, protocol, prudence, pudency, pudicity, punctilio, purity, qualification, realism, refinement, regularity, relevance, respectability, restraint, retributive justice, right, righteousness, rightfulness, rightness, ripeness, ritual, rude justice, scales of justice, seasonableness, sedateness, seemliness, shame, simplicity, smoothness, social convention, social usage, straightforwardness, suitability, suitableness, summary justice, taste, tastefulness, terseness, the proprieties, timeliness, tradition, unaffectedness, urbanity, usefulness, warrantability, warrantedness, what is right, wholesomeness, wisdom, worthwhileness

ROGET THESAURUS

propriety

Expedience

N expedience, expediency, desirableness, desirability, fitness, utility, propriety, opportunism, advantage, high time, expedient, desirable, advisable, acceptable, convenient, worth while, meet, fit, fitting, due, proper, eligible, seemly, becoming, befitting, opportune, in loco, suitable, applicable, in the right place, conveniently, operae pretium est.

Agreement

N agreement, accord, accordance, unison, harmony, concord, concordance, concert, understanding, mutual understanding, conformity, conformance, uniformity, consonance, consentaneousness, consistency, congruity, congruence, keeping, congeniality, correspondence, parallelism, apposition, union, fitness, aptness, relevancy, pertinence, pertinencey, sortance, case in point, aptitude, coaptation, propriety, applicability, admissibility, commensurability, compatibility, cognation, adaption, adjustment, graduation, accommodation, reconciliation, reconcilement, assimilation, consent, concurrence, cooperation, right man in the right place, very thing, quite the thing, just the thing, agreeing, suiting, in accord, accordant, concordant, consonant, congruous, consentaneous, correspondent, congenial, coherent, becoming, harmonious reconcilable, conformable, in accordance with, in harmony with, in keeping with, in unison with at one with, of one mind, of a piece, consistent, compatible, proportionate, commensurate, on all fours, apt, apposite, pertinent, pat, to the point, to the purpose, happy, felicitous, germane, ad rem, in point, on point, directly on point, bearing upon, applicable, relevant, admissible, fit adapted, in loco, a propos, appropriate, seasonable, sortable, suitable, idoneous, deft, meet, at home, in one's proper element, a propos of, pertinently, rem acu tetigisti, if the shoe fits, wear it, the cap fits, auxilia humilia firma consensus facit, discers concordia.

Fashion

N fashion, style, ton, bon ton, society, good society, polite society, monde, drawing-room, civilized life, civilization, town, beau monde, high life, court, world, fashionable world, gay world, Vanity Fair, show, manners, breeding, air, demeanor, savoir faire, gentlemanliness, gentility, decorum, propriety, biens_eance, conventions of society, Mrs, Grundy, punctilio, form, formality, etiquette, point of etiquette, dress, custom, mode, vogue, go, rage, prevailing taste, fad, trend, bandwagon, furore, thing, in thing, craze, chic, last word, man of fashion, woman of fashion, man of the world, woman of the world, height of fashion, pink of fashion, star of fashion, glass of fashion, leader of fashion, arbiter elegantiarum, the beautiful people, the fashion set, upper ten thousand, elite, smart set, the four hundred, in crowd, fashionable, in fashion, a la mode, comme il faut, admitted in society, admissible in society, presentable, conventional, genteel, well-bred, well mannered, well behaved, well spoken, gentlemanlike, gentlemanly, ladylike, civil, polite, polished, refined, thoroughbred, courtly, distingue, unembarrassed, degage, janty, jaunty, dashing, fast, modish, stylish, chic, trendy, recherche, newfangled, all the rage, all the go, with it, in, faddish, in court, in full dress, in evening dress, en grande tenue, fashionably, for fashion's sake, a la francaise, a la parisienne, a l' anglaise, a l' americaine, autre temps autre mauers, chaque pays a sa guise.

Right

N right, what ought to be, what should be, fitness, summum jus, justice, equity, equitableness, propriety, fair play, impartiality, measure for measure, give and take, lex talionis, Astraea, Nemesis, Themis, scales of justice, evenhanded justice, karma, suum cuique, clear stage, fair field and no favor, level playing field, morals, law, honor, virtue, right, good, just, reasonable, fit, equal, equable, equatable, evenhanded, fair, legitimate, justifiable, rightful, as it should be, as it ought to be, lawful deserved, rightly, +a bon droit, au bon droit, in justice, in equity, in reason, without distinction of persons, without regard to persons, without respect to persons, upon even terms, Int, all right!, fair's fair, Dieu et mon droit, in equal scale weighing delight and dole, justitia cuum cuique distribuit, justitiae soror incorrupta fides, justitia virtutem regina, thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just.

Duty

N duty, what ought to be done, moral obligation, accountableness, liability, onus, responsibility, bounden duty, imperative duty, call, call of duty, accountability, allegiance, fealty, tie engagement, part, function, calling, morality, morals, decalogue, case of conscience, conscientiousness, conscience, inward monitor, still small voice within, sense of duty, tender conscience, superego, the hell within, dueness, propriety, fitness, seemliness, amenability, decorum, to prepon, the thing, the proper thing, the right thing to do, the proper thing to do, ethics, ethology, deontology, aretology, moral philosophy, ethical philosophy, casuistry, polity, observance, fulfillment, discharge, performance, acquittal, satisfaction, redemption, good behavior, obligatory, binding, imperative, peremptory, stringent, behooving, incumbent on, chargeable on, under obligation, obliged by, bound by, tied by, saddled with, due to, beholden to, bound to, indebted to, tied down, compromised, in duty bound, amenable, liable, accountable, responsible, answerable, right, meet, moral, ethical, casuistical, conscientious, ethological, with a safe conscience, as in duty, bound, on one's own responsibility, at one's own risk, suo periculo, in foro conscientiae, quamdiu se bene gesserit, dura lex sed lex, dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, honos habet onus, leve fit quod bene fertur onus, loyaute m'oblige, simple duty bath no place for fear, stern daughter of the voice of God, there is a higher law than the Constitution.