Meanings
present singular third person impropriates · participle present impropriating · participle past impropriated · past impropriated
- obsoletetransitiveTo appropriate for private use.
And for the Pardon of the rest, that had stood against the King; the King, upon a second advice, thought it not fit it should pass by Parliament, the better (being matter of Grace) to impropriate the Thanks to himself […]
1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC - transitiveIn ecclesiastical law, to place (ecclesiastical property) under control or management of a layperson.
- not comparableOf ecclesiastical property: placed under the control or management of a layperson.
1 more example
Mrs. Ellen Gulſton, Relict of Theodore Gulſton, Doctor of Phyſick, a very Learned Man, being poſſeſſed of the Impropriate Parſonage of Bardvvell in Suffolk, did firſt procure from the King leave to annex the ſame to the Vicarage, and to make it Preſentative; and having formerly the Donation of the Vicarage, ſhe gave them both thus annexed freely to St. John’s College in Oxon: Expreſſing many Godly Reaſons in a pious Letter of her Grant, to advance the Glory of God to her Povver, &c.
1704, Henry Spelman, “An Account of the Worth of This Treatise, Taken Out of the Epistle to Sir Henry Spelman’s History of Tythes”, in De Non Temerandis Ecclesiis, Churches Not to Be Violated. A Tract of the Rights and Respects Due unto Churches. […], 6th edition, London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […]; republished in Two Tracts […], London: […] Awnsham and John Churchill, […], 1704, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Latinin-
- Medieval Latinimpropriātus
- Englishimpropriate
From Medieval Latin impropriātus, past participle of impropriāre (“to take as one's own, appropriate”), from Latin in- + proprius (“one's own”).
More words from Medieval Latin, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
impropriate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impropriate
“impropriate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impropriate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “impropriate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/impropriate.
Source: impropriate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.