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
Handmade in Japan, Akoni styles often feature titanium, plus proprietary hinges, screws, side shields, and adjustable temples that echo the intricate inner workings of timepieces.
—
Naomi Rougeau, Robb Report, 9 Nov. 2025
The company’s board of directors now uses a proprietary AI assistant, trained on internal data, to provide real-time advice — part of a broader push to deploy the technology across all aspects of its operations.
—Mohammed Sergie, semafor.com, 7 Nov. 2025
The facility also works on integration for the Waymo Driver, which is what the company calls the proprietary hardware and software that enables self-driving.
—Jackie Charniga, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Those are all specific processes that are often proprietary and unique to individual companies, and actually require a degree of human decision-making that isn’t easily replicated from scrapable data.
—Megan Poinski, Forbes.com, 4 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for proprietary
Naomi Rougeau, Robb Report, 9 Nov. 2025
The company’s board of directors now uses a proprietary AI assistant, trained on internal data, to provide real-time advice — part of a broader push to deploy the technology across all aspects of its operations.
—Mohammed Sergie, semafor.com, 7 Nov. 2025
The facility also works on integration for the Waymo Driver, which is what the company calls the proprietary hardware and software that enables self-driving.
—Jackie Charniga, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Those are all specific processes that are often proprietary and unique to individual companies, and actually require a degree of human decision-making that isn’t easily replicated from scrapable data.
—Megan Poinski, Forbes.com, 4 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for proprietary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for proprietary
exclusive
Adjective
-
Access expert insights, exclusive content, and a deeper dive into engineering and innovation.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Nov. 2025
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Despite the success, Sony has missed much of this upside due to selling the film’s exclusive rights to Netflix.—
Dylan Butts,
CNBC,
11 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Proprietary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/proprietary. Accessed 29 Nov. 2025.
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