proprietary
pruh-PRY-uh-tree
/prəˈpraɪə.tri/
Relating to an owner or ownership; held under patent, trademark, or copyright by a private owner.
Implies confidential or uniquely owned technology, software, or formula that rivals cannot freely use.
The story behind the word. Derived from Latin 'proprietas', meaning property or ownership, coming from 'proprius' meaning 'one's own'. It shares an ancestor with words like 'property' and 'proper'.
Word relationships
- patented: Patented specifically refers to government-registered inventions, whereas proprietary covers all privately held, secret, or owned tech.
- confidential: Confidential refers to secrecy, while proprietary refers directly to ownership rights.
- open-source: Open-source software or technology is freely available for public access and modification.
Commonly confused with
- propriety: Propriety means socially acceptable behavior or manners, whereas proprietary relates to ownership.
Word family
- proprietor (noun): An owner of a business or property.
- proprietorship (noun): The state of owning a business or asset.
Collocations
- proprietary software
- proprietary information
- proprietary code
- proprietary technology
Example sentences
- "The company relies on proprietary algorithms to power its real-time recommendation engine." Software architecture overview
- "Maintaining proprietary technology gives the firm a significant competitive advantage over industry rivals." Financial analysis report
Memory hook
PROPRIETARY technology belongs to the PROPRIETOR (owner) alone. PROPRIETARY = Privately owned property.
When not to use
Do not use 'proprietary' to refer to public infrastructure, open-source software, or open standards.
Fun facts
- Coca-Cola's secret formula is proprietary trade secret information that has been kept locked in a vault for over a century.
Related words
Explore more words
intellectual property, patent, Property, monopoly, communal, Properties
Also appears in
Take your vocabulary further with LangBlitz
Our English vocabulary app: FSRS spaced repetition, 5,000+ curated words across 119 topic groups, CEFR A1 to C2. Explore your mastery with the beautiful Vocabulary World feature.