impropriety
/ˌɪm.pɹəˈpɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/noun
impropriety is spelled I-M-P-R-O-P-R-I-E-T-Y: 11 letters and 5 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,336th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, impropriety means “The condition of being improper” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of impropriety is improprieties.
How many letters and syllables are in impropriety?
| Letters | 11: I-M-P-R-O-P-R-I-E-T-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 39,336th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is impropriety?
Impropriety appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 39,336th 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 impropriety?
- /ˌɪm.pɹəˈpɹaɪ.ɪ.ti/
Impropriety has 5 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-impropriety.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of impropriety
- improprieties plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does impropriety mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The condition of being improper.
To see the impropriety of this noninformative prior, note that the posterior results (2.19)–(2.22) can be justified by as [sic] combining the likelihood function with the following ‘prior density’: […]
- 2
An improper act.
- 3
Improper language.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Impropriety in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Ungehörigkeit, Unanständigkeit, Ungebührlichkeit , Fehlverhalten |
| Spanish | impropriedad, impropiedad |
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 impropriety come from?
From French impropriété, from Latin improprietās. By surface analysis, improper + -iety or im- + propriety.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).