How to Use proper in a Sentence

proper

1 of 3 adjective

• It is not proper to speak that way.
• Is this the proper spelling of your name?
• Each step must be done in the proper order.
• You need to eat a proper meal instead of junk food.
• She is a very prim and proper young lady.
• It would not be proper for you to borrow the ladder without asking first.
• The children need to learn proper behavior.
• Prim and proper, but with a bit of a wink.
  — Dino Bonačić, Glamour, 21 Mar. 2026
• Some small, some proper big, some scary fast.
  — New Atlas, 26 Jan. 2026
• If your feet need a rest, sit down for a proper meal.
  — Lauren Schuster, Kansas City Star, 23 Feb. 2026
• How much is gas in Phoenix proper?
  — Jose R. Gonzalez, AZCentral.com, 28 Mar. 2026
• Do a good deed and return it to its proper home.
  — Jenny McCoy, Outside, 2 Jan. 2026
• No chance to ever have a proper hang with them?
  — Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 27 Mar. 2026
• There has to be proper checks and balances.
  — John Ramos, CBS News, 3 Mar. 2026
• Make sure new plants are set in the proper light level.
  — Tom MacCubbin, The Orlando Sentinel, 31 Jan. 2026
• Where is the proper place for a lady to keep her purse at home?
  — Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin, oregonlive, 8 July 2023
• What is the proper way to respond?
  — Judith Martin, Dallas Morning News, 14 Feb. 2026
• Did this even get a proper release?
  — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2026
• Bury each cage at the proper planting depth.
  — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 2 Oct. 2025
• Show them the phone-book or oven-mitt trick to keep proper tension.
  — The Editors, Outdoor Life, 30 Oct. 2025
• Our conduct has been quite proper.
  — Literary Hub, 28 May 2026
• Speaking of which, a jade plant can live for decades with proper jade plant care.
  — Arricca Elin Sansone, House Beautiful, 14 Aug. 2023
• Well, here’s their chance at proper payback.
  — Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2025
• More than half of the children are less than twelve years old, though there is no proper school.
  — Literary Hub, 14 July 2026
• Once a foal is born, proper care in the first few hours is essential.
  — Lydia Patrick, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Oct. 2025
• What made casual pieces like these feel like the proper route?
  — Rob Ledonne, Vogue, 20 Oct. 2023
• Fans of dim sum and proper sauciers will also find this useful.
  — Alex Ronan, Architectural Digest, 1 Jan. 2026
• That includes giving them a proper send off at the end of their lives.
  — Melinda Moore, Chicago Tribune, 18 June 2026
• That was like a proper NFL pass play.
  — Peter Carline, New York Times, 10 Oct. 2025
• There is no proper health care, no economy, no jobs.
  — Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 2 Jan. 2026

proper

2 of 3 noun

• The chicken house proper should have five or six square feet per chicken.
  — John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Apr. 2022
• But there’s not enough of that kind of thing once the story proper gets going.
  — Bill Goodykoontz, Detroit Free Press, 12 Mar. 2021
• The bar, dancefloor, and club proper occupied the ground floor.
  — David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 8 Aug. 2021
• The city proper lies north of the freeway, though two Quartzsite businesses are shown in the film.
  — Richard Ruelas, The Arizona Republic, 27 Apr. 2021
• Renters who live in Dallas proper can apply to the resources below.
  — Dom Difurio, Dallas News, 10 Aug. 2021
• Eventually, the teachers made their way to a back room, called the archive proper.
  — al, 14 July 2022
• This year, Valentine’s Day proper fell on a workweek night and a friend’s birthday.
  — Alli Harvey, Anchorage Daily News, 20 Feb. 2022
• Right now, even ahead of Prime Day proper, there are several brands available for great prices.
  — Brittany Vincent, SELF, 22 June 2022
• Both venues often get used if ski patrol doesn’t sign off on conditions on The Cirque proper.
  — Outside, 18 Dec. 2025
• Does this mean Venom will appear in that movie, or even in the MCU proper?
  — James Grebey, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2021
• The dinner menu can be ordered within the restaurant proper, as well as outdoors and throughout the lobby.
  — Stephanie Breijostaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 27 Dec. 2022
• View full post on Instagram Fans hit the comments section big time to give the singer major propers for her looks.
  — Maggie Horton, Country Living, 11 June 2023
• In Phoenix proper, Deemer said rainfall totals would likely hit between one-tenth and one-quarter of an inch.
  — Brieanna J. Frank, The Arizona Republic, 6 Nov. 2020
• This area is surrounded by bespoke desks by Very Good and Proper that are topped with library-style desk lamps.
  — Jenna Milliner-Waddell, ELLE Decor, 12 July 2017
• Trump signs are frequently sighted on the rural county roads outside Rehoboth proper, but are rare in town.
  — Washington Post, 27 Nov. 2020
• Oklahoma City proper spiked to 110 degrees for the first time in a decade on Tuesday.
  — Matthew Cappucci, Anchorage Daily News, 20 July 2022
• In Hartford proper, Brainard Airport had a high of 79 degrees.
  — Hartford Courant, 7 Nov. 2022
• Oklahoma City proper spiked to 110 degrees for the first in a decade on Tuesday.
  — Matthew Cappucci, Washington Post, 18 July 2022
• The researchers suspect that the huge amount of water in the eruption proper kept a lot of the sulfur dioxide from ever reaching the stratosphere.
  — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 22 Sep. 2022
• That restaurant, in the former Proper Eats space, isn't scheduled to open until July.
  — Michael Russell, OregonLive.com, 23 June 2017
• After all, the value of Ethereum proper, and its native cryptocurrency Ether, will have nothing to do with the fork.
  — Taylor Locke, Fortune, 13 Sep. 2022
• That fascination is playing out at the moment not only on a stage in Cambridge, but in Boston proper, too.
  — Peter Marks, Washington Post, 15 June 2022
• Huntsville proper recently passed Montgomery to become the second largest city in Alabama, and is on pace to become the largest.
  — Ramsey Archibald | [email protected], al, 1 Dec. 2019
• There also is a building adjacent to the restaurant proper that served as a connected lounge and bar; a building that once served as a Bart's Shoes store.
  — Gregory Tejeda, Post-Tribune, 29 May 2017
• This prompts the arrival of upper-middle-management crime figure Del (Esai Morales) and the drama proper.
  — Los Angeles Times, 18 Nov. 2021
• Subsequent episodes will be released on FX proper each Thursday and become available to stream the next day on Hulu.
  — ELLE, 26 Mar. 2022
• There are still a lot of unknowns, including who would preside, how long the trial proper would take or whether McConnell would try to block doing other business.
  — Steven T. Dennis, Bloomberg.com, 22 Jan. 2021
• Dining options are limited in Sugarloaf Key proper.
  — Skye Sherman, Southern Living, 20 June 2026
• First, ~40 percent of the ancestry in England proper seems Anglo-Saxon.
  — Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 12 Nov. 2012
• Anyway, Oculus Quest duplicates the more rigid straps of the Rift proper, which is a huge improvement over Go’s flimsy elastic.
  — Hayden Dingman, PCWorld, 26 Sep. 2018

proper

3 of 3 adverb

• They beat us good and proper.
• The carriage house proper boasted a livery room and space for six large equipages.
  — John Freeman Gill, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2019
• Just as there’s something to be said for proper-fitting women’s flannels, there’s also something to be said for a good pair of men’s camp pants.
  — Ben Romans, Outdoor Life, 26 Nov. 2020
• This, as revealed in the opening moments of the episode proper, has had some serious repercussions for Crowley.
  — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 13 May 2026
• Big red signs warn them of the danger to their lives at the checkpoints that divide Israel proper from the Palestinian territories.
  — Batya Ungar-Sargon, The New York Review of Books, 17 June 2019
• In Dallas-Fort Worth proper, expect showers and thunderstorms.
  — Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 Mar. 2026
• To maximize the light in their airy, white room, the couple cut a large square window in the wall between Weiner’s closet and the bedroom proper, allowing light to stream in.
  — Kit Waskom Pollard, baltimoresun.com, 13 Sep. 2017
• Many people know Miami proper, especially South Beach, but there’s more to Miami than tanned skin and toned physiques.
  — Danielle Young, The Root, 2 Mar. 2018
• Aledo, just outside Fort Worth proper, has earned a reputation as a destination for families seeking strong schools paired with a small-town feel and easy access back into the city for work.
  — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 May 2026
• Additionally, families can opt for grander accommodations than the lodge proper by renting from Spruce Peaks’ pool of private residences and mountain cabins.
  — Paul Rubio, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Dec. 2017
• Those in Talayan Village proper separated themselves from the squatters with a small fence (though even today there is a gillage right beside Malacañang, Manila’s presidential palace).
  — Sean Williams, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
• The port proper is connected to Market Three by a narrow cement path that wends between an overgrown empty lot known as the Mountain, a permanent black puddle the size of a swimming pool, and the port’s 20-foot-high outside wall.
  — Aurora Almendral, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2020
• This marks the brand’s second location in Charlotte proper; the first opened in uptown in 2024, CharlotteFive previously reported.
  — Tanasia Kenney, Charlotte Observer, 15 Apr. 2026
• Liverpool confirmed qualification to the Champions League proper after seeing off Hoffenheim on Wednesday.
  — SI.com, 25 Aug. 2017
• Doubles players have criticized the USTA for devaluing a Grand Slam trophy by introducing a new format and holding the tournament in the same week as singles qualifying, rather than alongside the tournament proper.
  — Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2025
• Just west of the city proper, The Wigwam, another nearly century-old stalwart (originally built as a vacation lodge for Goodyear Tire execs), unveiled its own top-to-bottom makeover, which included remodeling its 331 rooms and casitas.
  — Chadner Navarro, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Apr. 2024