ad- ‘to’ + proprius ‘own, proper’

FIT, SUITABLE, MEET, PROPER, APPROPRIATE, FITTING, APT, HAPPY, FELICITOUS mean right with respect to some end, need, use, or circumstance.

FIT stresses adaptability and sometimes special readiness for use or action.

e.g. fit for battle

SUITABLE implies an answering to requirements or demands.

e.g. clothes suitable for camping

MEET suggests a just proportioning.

e.g. meet payment

PROPER suggests a suitability through essential nature or accordance with custom.

e.g. proper acknowledgement

APPROPRIATE implies eminent or distinctive fitness.

e.g. an appropriate gift

FITTING implies harmony of mood or tone.

e.g. a fitting end

APT connotes a fitness marked by nicety and discrimination.

e.g. apt quotations

HAPPY suggests what is effectively or successfully appropriate.

e.g. a happy choice of words

FELICITOUS suggests an aptness that is opportune, telling, or graceful.

e.g. a felicitous phrase

Did you know?

From its roots, the verb appropriate would mean basically "make one's own"—that is, "take", or sometimes "grab". Each year the President and Congress create a budget and appropriate funds for each item in it, funds which mostly come in the form of taxes from the public. In the House of Representatives, the powerful Appropriations Committee often gets the last word on how much money goes to each program. "Misappropriation of funds", on the other hand, is a nice way of saying "theft". If someone appropriated pieces of your novel, you might take him or her to court; and if you appropriated trade secrets from your former employers, you might be the one sued.

adjective | əˈprōprēət |

suitable or proper in the circumstances:

【状況･目的･人などに】きちんと合った, 適切な, ふさわしい «for, to» (↔ inappropriate)

e.g. a measure appropriate to a wartime economy.

verb | əˈprōprēˌāt | with object

1. take (something) for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission:

…を私物化する; 〈役割など〉を自分のものとする, 横取りする; 〘法〙 〈金品など〉を横領, 着服する

e.g. his images have been appropriated by advertisers.

2. devote (money or assets) to a special purpose:

«…のために» 〈金銭など〉を充当する, 使用する «for»

e.g. there can be problems in appropriating funds for legal expenses.

appropriator | əˈprōprēˌādər | noun

late Middle English: from late Latin appropriatus, past participle of appropriare ‘make one's own’, from ad- ‘to’ + proprius ‘own, proper’.