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