Meaning & use
proprietary
Relating to an owner, or made and sold only by the company that holds its rights.
See it in a sentence
The software uses a proprietary format that only works with the company's own programs.
The recipe remains a proprietary secret guarded closely by the restaurant's owners.
A note on using this word
Proprietary is common in business and technology, often contrasted with open-source or public-domain material.
Words with a similar meaning
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Words with an opposite meaning
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