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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Appropriate


APPRO'PRIATE, verb transitive [Latin ad and proprius, private, peculiar. See Proper.]

1. To set apart for, or assign to a particular use, in exclusion of all other uses; as, a spot of ground is appropriated for a garden.

2. To take to one's self in exclusion of others; to claim or use as by an exclusive right.

Let no man appropriate the use of a common benefit.

3. To make peculiar; as, to appropriate names to ideas.

4. To sever an ecclesiastical benefice, and annex it to a spiritual corporation, sole or aggregate, being the patron of the living.

APPRO'PRIATE, adjective

1. Belonging peculiarly; peculiar; set apart for a particular use or person; as, religious worship is an appropriate duty to the Creator.

2. Most suitable, fit or proper; as, to use appropriate words in pleading.