proprietary

Meanings

Plural: proprietaries

Noun

• an unincorporated business owned by a single person who is responsible for its liabilities and entitled to its profits
• A proprietor or owner.
• A body of proprietors, taken collectively.
• The rights of a proprietor.
• A monk who had reserved goods and belongings to himself, notwithstanding his renunciation of all at the time of profession.
• A company doing legitimate business while also serving as a front for espionage.

Adjective

• protected by trademark or patent or copyright; made or produced or distributed by one having exclusive rights
  • "`Tylenol' is a proprietary drug of which `acetaminophen' is the generic form"

Adj

• Of or relating to property or ownership.
• Owning something; having ownership.
• Created or manufactured exclusively by the owner or licensee of intellectual property rights, as with a patent or trade secret.
• Nonstandard and controlled by one particular organization.
• Privately owned.
• Possessive, jealous, or territorial.

Synonyms

proprietorial, proprietorship

Antonyms

nonproprietary, open source

Related Words

proper, proper name, proper noun, proprialization

Anagrams of proprietary