property

English Online Dictionary. What means property‎? What does property mean?

English

Alternative forms

• propretie

Etymology

From Middle English propertee, properte, propirte, proprete, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French propreté, proprieté (“propriety, fitness, property”), from Latin proprietās (“a peculiarity, one's peculiar nature or quality, right or fact of possession, property”), from proprius (“special, particular, one's own”). Equivalent to proper +‎ -ty. Doublet of propriety.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒp.ə.ti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑ.pɚ.ti/, [ˈpɹɑ.pɚ.ɾi], enPR: prŏʹpərdē
• Hyphenation: prop‧erty

Noun

property (countable and uncountable, plural properties)

1. Something that is owned.
3. A piece of real estate, such as a parcel of land.

   Synonyms: land, parcel

4. (British) Real estate; the business of selling houses.

5. The exclusive right of possessing, enjoying and disposing of a thing.
6. An attribute or abstract quality associated with an individual, object or concept.
7. An attribute or abstract quality which is characteristic of a class of objects.
8. (computing) An editable or read-only parameter associated with an application, component or class; especially (object-oriented programming) one that encapsulates an underlying variable.

9. (usually in the plural, theater) A prop, an object used in a dramatic production.

   Synonym: prop

10. (US) A script, book, screenplay, or the like that is on the market or has been bought for commercial production as a stage play, movie, or the like.
    1. (US, by extension, rare) A produced stage play, movie, or the like.
       • 1961, Darren McGavin, quoted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onJF43xXG2o?t=1331:

         Is the property in which you are playing currently on Broadway – is it a musical?

11. (obsolete) Propriety; correctness.

Synonyms

• (something owned): See Thesaurus:property
• (attribute or abstract quality of an object): See Thesaurus:characteristic

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

property (third-person singular simple present properties, present participle propertying, simple past and past participle propertied)

1. (obsolete) To invest with properties, or qualities.
2. (obsolete) To make a property of; to appropriate.

See also

• Thesaurus:physical property

References

• “property”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• property in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “property”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.