improper

• impropre (obsolete)

From Middle French impropre, from Latin improprius (“not proper”), from in- + proprius (“proper”). By surface analysis, im- +‎ proper.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɒp.ə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɔp.ə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɑ.pɚ/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒpə(ɹ)

improper (comparative more improper, superlative most improper)

1. Unsuitable to needs or circumstances; inappropriate; inapt.
2. Not in keeping with conventional mores or good manners; indecent or immodest.

   improper conduct

3. Not according to facts; inaccurate or erroneous.
4. Not consistent with established facts; incorrect.
5. Not properly named; See, for example, improper fraction.
6. (obsolete) Not specific or appropriate to individuals; general; common.
   • 1608, John Fletcher, The Faithful Shepherdess:

     Not to be adorned with any art but such improper ones as nature is said to bestow, as singing and poetry.

7. (mathematics) Of a complex random variable, correlated with its conjugate.

• unproper (obsolete or rare)

From Middle English empropren, perhaps from an unattested Anglo-Norman variant enproprier of Anglo-Norman apropr(i)er, approprier, related to modern French approprier.

improper (third-person singular simple present impropers, present participle impropering, simple past and past participle impropered)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To appropriate; to assign (something, to someone) as a possession or prerogative.
   • 1565, John Jewel, letter to Thomas Harding:

     He would in like manner improper and inclose the sunbeams to comfort the rich and not the poor.

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:improper.

• impropre