as in exclusive
belonging to only one person, unit, or group and not used by or available to others
The restaurant's proprietary recipe for barbecue sauce is only known to the head chef.
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Recent Examples of proprietary
These include companies with a competitive moat, have strong branding and proprietary data, and are deeply entrenched within their industries.
—
Sarah Min, CNBC, 23 Apr. 2026
The Lycra Company has launched Lycra Antistatic, a next-generation fiber engineered with proprietary additives directly integrated into its structure.
—Alexandra Harrell, Footwear News, 23 Apr. 2026
The hero ingredient is the brand's proprietary olive oil, sourced sustainably from its 800+ acre organic estate in Sicily.
—Tory Johnson, ABC News, 23 Apr. 2026
This trio comes with a rubber strap that matches their opaline dials and cases made from TAG’s proprietary bio-polamide plastic called TH-Polylight.
—Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 22 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for proprietary
Sarah Min, CNBC, 23 Apr. 2026
The Lycra Company has launched Lycra Antistatic, a next-generation fiber engineered with proprietary additives directly integrated into its structure.
—Alexandra Harrell, Footwear News, 23 Apr. 2026
The hero ingredient is the brand's proprietary olive oil, sourced sustainably from its 800+ acre organic estate in Sicily.
—Tory Johnson, ABC News, 23 Apr. 2026
This trio comes with a rubber strap that matches their opaline dials and cases made from TAG’s proprietary bio-polamide plastic called TH-Polylight.
—Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 22 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for proprietary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for proprietary
exclusive
Adjective
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Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.—
Dennis Romero,
NBC news,
25 Apr. 2026
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On April 13, a Utah State Court ordered the child to be returned to LB and granted LB exclusive custody.—
Ingrid Vasquez,
PEOPLE,
25 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Proprietary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/proprietary. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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