American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition - adj. Characterized by appropriateness or suitability;
fitting: the proper knife for cutting bread; not a proper moment
for a joke. - adj. Called for by rules or conventions; correct:
the proper form for a business letter. - adj. Strictly following
rules or conventions, especially in social behavior; seemly: a
proper lady; a proper gentleman. - adj. Belonging to one; own:
restored to his proper shape by the magician. - adj.
Characteristically belonging to the being or thing in question;
peculiar: an optical effect proper to fluids. - adj. Being
within the strictly limited sense, as of a term designating
something: the town proper, excluding the suburbs. - adj.
Ecclesiastical For use in the liturgy of a particular feast or
season of the year. - adj. Mathematics Of or relating to a
subset of a given set when the set has at least one element not
in the subset. - adj. Worthy of the name; true: wanted a proper
dinner, not just a snack. - adj. O