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)
- 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.
- By the way, incidental.
- 1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part I (Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., […]), chapter II (The Science of Deduction), page 14:
- Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. "No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to [C. Auguste] Dupin," he observed. "Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends' thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of an hour's silence is really very showy and superficial. He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as [Edgar Allan] Poe appeared to imagine."
Synonyms
- (by the way): by the way, incidentally, incidental
Derived terms
Translations
of an appropriate or pertinent nature
|
Preposition
apropos
- 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
- about, as for; See also Thesaurus:about
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
regarding or concerning
|
Adverb
apropos
- By the way.
- Timely; at a good time.
- To the purpose; appropriately.
Translations
by the way
|
timely, at a good time
Noun
apropos (uncountable)
- (obsolete) Fittingness, pertinence.
Anagrams
Danish
Alternative forms
- à propos (nonstandard)
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)
Inflection
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
- apropos (regarding or concerning)
Adverb
apropos
German
Etymology
Borrowed from French à propos.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [a.pʁoˈpoː]
Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -oː
Adverb
apropos
- 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.