proprietorship

C2+ Topic:Abstract Ideas

US /prəˈpraɪətɚʃɪp/ UK /prəˈpraɪətəʃɪp/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the state of being an owner, or a business owned by one person

She ran the shop as a sole proprietorship for thirty years.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the state of being an... ownership possession proprietary holding tenure

Opposites

tenancy

Word family

Related forms proprietor property proprietary

Etymology

From proprietor (from Late Latin proprietarius 'owner', from Latin proprius 'one's own') + the noun suffix -ship.

proprietarius Latin proprius Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Abstract Ideas Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# proprietorship

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /prəˈpraɪətɚʃɪp/
**IPA (UK):** /prəˈpraɪətəʃɪp/

## Meanings
1. the state of being an owner, or a business owned by one person

## Examples
- She ran the shop as a sole proprietorship for thirty years.

## Synonyms
- ownership
- possession
- proprietary
- holding
- tenure

## Antonyms
- tenancy

## Related Forms
- proprietor
- property
- proprietary

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: proprietarius
- Root: proprius

## Etymology
From proprietor (from Late Latin proprietarius 'owner', from Latin proprius 'one's own') + the noun suffix -ship.

## AI Etymology
Proprietorship is from proprietor (from Late Latin proprietarius 'owner', from Latin proprius 'one's own') + the noun suffix -ship. Important recorded forms include proprietarius (Latin) and proprius (Latin). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers the state of being an owner, or a business owned by one person. The wider family includes related words such as proprietor, property, and proprietary.

## Topics
- Abstract Ideas
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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