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Definition of "improper" []

  • Not suited to circumstances or needs; unsuitable: improper shoes for a hike; improper medical treatment. (adjective)
  • Not in keeping with conventional mores; indecorous: improper behavior. (adjective)
  • Not consistent with established truth, fact, or rule; incorrect. (adjective)
  • Irregular or abnormal. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "improper" in a sentence
  • "The sudden opening of the door aroused them to a sense of their improper situation; for who but must consider it _improper_ to find a young lady locked in the arms of a gentleman to whom she had just been introduced?"
  • "In a tearful news conference, Kosako said he could not stay and allow the government to set what he called improper radiation limits of 20 millisieverts a year for elementary schools in areas near the plant."
  • "Quantity and Quality, which are proper and intrinsic, and those in the other six categories, excluding Relation, which he calls improper and extrinsic."