apropos

English

WOTD – 9 September 2008

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from French à propos (on that subject).

Similar in meaning and form, and to some extent etymology, to appropriate, but not a doublet of it.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˌæp.ɹəˈpəʊ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌæp.ɹəˈpoʊ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊ

Adjective

apropos (comparative more apropos, superlative most apropos)

  1. Of an appropriate or pertinent nature.
    • 1877, Jules Verne, translated by Frederick Amadeus Malleson, Journey into the Interior of the Earth, Chapter VI:
      Nothing easier. I received not long ago a map from my friend, Augustus Petermann, at Leipzig. Nothing could be more apropos.
    • 1974 February 9, “Tufts Porno”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 33, page 2:
      A particularly apropos line many will remember from this film was the closing shot of a Times editorial reading "Is There No Sense of Decency?"
    • 2008 December, Anne Valdespino, “Mr. Stox”, in Orange Coast, volume 34, number 12, →ISSN, page 139:
      Served outside the shell and sliced in bite-sized pieces, it's as apropos for a first date as a business dinner.
  2. By the way, incidental.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Preposition

apropos

  1. Regarding, concerning, in regard to, on the subject of:
    • 2011, Jeremy Harding, “Diary”, in London Review of Books, 33.VII:
      Few have the same root and branch obsession with the recent past or the avenger’s recall (‘the necessity for long memory and sarcasm in argument’, as he wrote apropos the old left intelligentsia in New York).

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

apropos

  1. By the way.
  2. Timely; at a good time.
  3. To the purpose; appropriately.

Translations

Noun

apropos (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) Fittingness, pertinence.

Anagrams

Danish

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from French à propos.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /apropo/, [apʰʁ̥opʰo], [ɑpʰʁ̥opʰo]

Noun

apropos n (singular definite aproposet or apropos'et, plural indefinite aproposer or apropos'er)

  1. aside

Inflection

Declension of apropos
neuter
gender
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative apropos aproposet
apropos'et
aproposer
apropos'er
aproposerne
apropos'erne
genitive apropos' aproposets
apropos'ets
aproposers
apropos'ers
aproposernes
apropos'ernes

Preposition

apropos

  1. apropos (regarding or concerning)

Adverb

apropos

  1. apropos

German

Etymology

Borrowed from French à propos.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [a.pʁoˈpoː]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -oː

Adverb

apropos

  1. speaking of, apropos
    Synonyms: übrigens, nebenbei, bei der Gelegenheit, da wir gerade davon sprechen
    Apropos, Spanien: Wir fliegen ja nächsten Monat nach Madrid.
    Speaking of Spain, you know we’re flying to Madrid next month.

Further reading

  • apropos” in Duden online
  • apropos” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache