Wiktionary

apropos

See also: àpropos, a propos, apropos', and à propos

English

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WOTD – 9 September 2008

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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Adjective

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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.
    • 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
    • 1877, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet:
      Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. "No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to 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 Poe appeared to imagine."

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Preposition

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apropos

  1. Regarding or concerning.
    • 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

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Adverb

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apropos

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

Translations

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Anagrams

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Danish

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French à propos.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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

  1. aside

Inflection

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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

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apropos

  1. apropos (regarding or concerning)

Adverb

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apropos

  1. apropos

German

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French à propos.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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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

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