Skip to content
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

proprietary

/pɹəˈpɹaɪəˌtɛɹi/

Press play to hear how to pronounce proprietary.

American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
Watch on YouTube ↗
LISTEN FOR THIS

Give “pri” the main beat, using the vowel in “pry.”

Keep the second syllable strongest, and let its long i vowel lead into a separate light uh.

5 syllables · Stress on syllable 2

TRY SAYING
The manual describes the proprietary format.

APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

What does proprietary mean?

adjective

  1. Of or relating to property or ownership.
  2. Owning something; having ownership.
  3. Created or manufactured exclusively by the owner or licensee of intellectual property rights, as with a patent or trade secret.
More meanings (8)

adjective

  1. Nonstandard and controlled by one particular organization.
  2. Privately owned.
  3. Possessive, jealous, or territorial.

noun

  1. A proprietor or owner.
  2. A body of proprietors, taken collectively.
  3. The rights of a proprietor.
  4. A monk who had reserved goods and belongings to himself, notwithstanding his renunciation of all at the time of profession.
  5. A company doing legitimate business while also serving as a front for espionage.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/pɹəˈpɹaɪəˌtɛɹi/

Pronunciation used in the listening tip.

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

He brought a commission to supersede Mr. Hamilton, who, tir'd with the disputes his proprietary instructions subjected him to, had resign'd.
Benjamin FranklinThe Autobiography of Benjamin FranklinProject Gutenberg ebook #148
Then you will have proprietary industry sustaining against itself, and at its own expense, another industry with which it cannot compete.
P.-J. (Pierre-Joseph) ProudhonWhat is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of GovernmentProject Gutenberg ebook #360
More book examples (3)
It is now leisure performed for the quasi-personal corporate household, instead of, as formerly, for the proprietary head of the household.
Thorstein VeblenThe Theory of the Leisure ClassProject Gutenberg ebook #833
They were all young men together, and Corey, who had put his money into the company, had a proprietary interest in the success which they were eager to achieve.
William Dean HowellsThe Rise of Silas LaphamProject Gutenberg ebook #154
She had such an expansive majesty of mien that Rowland supposed she must have some proprietary right in the villa and was not just then in a hospitable mood.
Henry JamesRoderick HudsonProject Gutenberg ebook #176