noun
property
PROP-uh-tee
noun
1
Something that a person or organization owns, especially land, buildings, or possessions.
"They bought a small property on the edge of town."
"All of the equipment is company property."
2
A quality or characteristic that belongs to something, such as a material or a chemical.
"One property of rubber is its elasticity."
3
(computing) A named setting or attribute belonging to an object or component, which can often be read or changed.
"You can set the "color" property of the button in the design panel."
How to Use Property
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishEither something you own (land, goods) or a trait/attribute something has.
Common mistake
Don't confuse with "propriety," which means correct or decent behaviour — the two words share the same Latin root but mean very different things today.
Easily confused with
Common pairings
private property
chemical property
intellectual property
Word Forms
propertied past tense, properties plural, properties singular
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They bought a small _____ on the edge of town.
Etymology
From Middle English propertee, from Anglo-Norman propreté, ultimately from Latin proprietas ("ownership, a particular quality"), from proprius ("one's own"). A doublet of propriety — the two words split apart in meaning over time.