Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of propriety.
  • noun The customs associated with polite society

Etymologies

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Examples

  • We talked of this to the young vicar, who highly approved of my plan, and albeit monsieur his uncle thought such a scheme somewhat contrary to rule and to what he termed the proprieties, we made use of his nephew, the young priest, as a lever; and M. de Poitiers at last consented to everything.

    Court Memoirs of France Series — Complete Various

  • We talked of this to the young vicar, who highly approved of my plan, and albeit monsieur his uncle thought such a scheme somewhat contrary to rule and to what he termed the proprieties, we made use of his nephew, the young priest, as a lever; and M. de Poitiers at last consented to everything.

    Memoirs of Madame de Montespan — Complete Fran��oise-Ath��na��s de Rochechouart de Mortemart Montespan 1674

  • We talked of this to the young vicar, who highly approved of my plan, and albeit monsieur his uncle thought such a scheme somewhat contrary to rule and to what he termed the proprieties, we made use of his nephew, the young priest, as a lever; and M. de Poitiers at last consented to everything.

    Memoirs of Madame de Montespan — Volume 4 Fran��oise-Ath��na��s de Rochechouart de Mortemart Montespan 1674

  • The kaleidoscope had brought certain proprieties into full observation which had for some time been unnoticed – there was no doubt about that.

    Parables From Nature 1857

  • Dimly recalling the proprieties, she reluctantly drew away.

    A Lady of Expectations Laurens, Stephanie 1995

  • Dimly recalling the proprieties, she reluctantly drew away.

    A Lady of Expectations Laurens, Stephanie 1995

  • The proprieties are the guiding principle of people without soul and virtue.

    Famous Affinities of History — Volume 4 Lyndon Orr

  • The proprieties are the guiding principle of people without soul and virtue.

    Famous Affinities of History — Complete Lyndon Orr

  • Nothing restrains him; not even the so-called proprieties of history.

    Obiter Dicta Augustine Birrell 1891

  • The one was a strict observer of the laws of propriety and an almost exclusive frequenter of fashionable society; the other, on the contrary, had an unmitigated scorn for the so - called proprieties and so-called good society.

    Frederic Chopin as a Man and Musician Niecks, Frederick 1888

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