appropriate
/əˈpɹoʊ.pɹi.eɪt/verb, adjective
appropriate is spelled A-P-P-R-O-P-R-I-A-T-E. The wrong spelling people search most is appropiate: about 470 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 17 of all searches for the word. Appropriate is a verb meaning “To take to oneself; to claim or use, especially as by an exclusive right”.
How many letters and syllables are in appropriate?
| Letters | 11: A-P-P-R-O-P-R-I-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 47 times per million words; the 2,153rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 4; the most searched, appropiate, about 470 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell appropriate?
Appropriate is spelled A-P-P-R-O-P-R-I-A-T-E. 4 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 11 of the searches for appropriate in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is appropriate?
Appropriate appears 47 times per million words in written English, the 2,153rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce appropriate?
- UK /əˈpɹəʊ.pɹi.eɪt/
- US /əˈpɹoʊ.pɹi.eɪt/
As an adjective (“Suitable or fit; proper; felicitous”): /əˈpɹəʊ.pɹi.ɪt/, /əˈpɹəʊ.pɹi.ət/, /əˈpɹoʊ.pɹi.ɪt/.
Appropriate has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-appropriate-verb.ogg, En-us-appropriate-adj.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with appropriate?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as appropriate from its last stressed vowel (/oʊpɹieɪt/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of appropriate
- appropriates present, singular, he/she/it
- appropriating participle, present
- appropriated participle, past
- more appropriate comparative
- most appropriate superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does appropriate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To take to oneself; to claim or use, especially as by an exclusive right.
Let no man appropriate the use of a common benefit.
- 2
To set apart for, or assign to, a particular person or use, especially in exclusion of all others; with to or for.
A spot of ground is appropriated for a garden.
- 3
UKTo annex (for example a benefice, to a spiritual corporation, as its property).
- 4
archaicTo make suitable to; to suit.
adjective
- 1
Suitable or fit; proper; felicitous.
The headmaster wondered what an appropriate measure would be to make the pupil behave better.
- 2
Suitable to the social situation or to social respect or social discreetness; socially correct; socially discreet; well-mannered; proper.
I don't think it was appropriate for the cashier to tell me out loud in front of all those people at the checkout that my hairpiece looked like it was falling out of place.
- 3
obsoleteSet apart for a particular use or person; reserved.
- 4
Of an action or thing: morally good; positive.
Rescuing animals is an appropriate thing to do.
- 5
Of an action or thing: pleasant.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Appropriate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | aneignen , zuweisen , anpassen , angebracht, angemessen, passend |
| Portuguese | apropriar-se de, apoderar-se de , designar , apropriar , apropriado |
| Spanish | adueñarse de, apropiarse de, apoderarse de , apropiado |
| French | approprier , approprié, idoine |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does appropriate come from?
From Middle English appropriaten, from appropriat (“appropriated”) + -en, borrowed from Latin appropriātus, perfect passive participle of appropriō (“to make one's own”), from ad (“to”) + propriō (“to make one's own”), from proprius (“one's own, private”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).