property definition

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 proprietas (“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

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: prop‧erty

Noun

property (countable and uncountable, plural properties)

1. Something that is owned.

   Leave those books alone! They are my property.

   Important types of property include real property (land), personal property (other physical possessions), and intellectual property (rights over artistic creations, inventions, etc.).

   • 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:

     A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff. These properties were known to have belonged to a toddy drawer. He had disappeared.

3. A piece of real estate, such as a parcel of land.

   There is a large house on the property.

   Synonyms: land, parcel

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

   He works in property as a housing consultant.

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.

   Charm is his most endearing property.

   • 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist:

     Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.

7. An attribute or abstract quality which is characteristic of a class of objects.

   Matter can have many properties, including color, mass and density.

   • 2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist:

     Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.

8. (computing) An editable or read-only parameter associated with an application, component or class.

   You need to set the debugging property to "verbose".

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

   Costumes and scenery are distinguished from property properly speaking.

   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.
    • 1625, William Camden, translated by Abraham Darcie/Darcy, Annales Or, The History of the Most Renowned and Victorious Princesse Elizabeth Late Queen of England:

      it is well knowne that I have the property to keepe counsaile

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.
   • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     His voyce was propertied
     As all the tuned Spheres, and that to Friends

2. (obsolete) To make a property of; to appropriate.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     Your grace shall pardon me, I will not back:
     I am too high-born to be propertied,
     To be a secondary at control,
     Or useful serving-man and instrument,
     To any sovereign state throughout the world.

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.