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
That’s according to the analysis, which used Semafor’s new proprietary AI tool to parse the full onstage record across five days and rank nearly 5,000 distinct claims from CEOs, lawmakers, central bank governors and finance ministers.
—
Shelly Banjo, semafor.com, 7 May 2026
Energizer says their new Ultimate Child Shield 20 mm coin lithium batteries, launching Wednesday and available where specialty batteries are sold, are the first of its kind and made from a proprietary titanium alloy material, instead of the usual stainless steel material found in similar batteries.
—ABC News, 6 May 2026
In many cases, simpler formulas are more effective than products loaded with proprietary blends.
—Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Sacbee.com, 6 May 2026
Large language models that are open, rather than proprietary, are easier to assess.
—Ahmed Hamza, The Conversation, 5 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for proprietary
Shelly Banjo, semafor.com, 7 May 2026
Energizer says their new Ultimate Child Shield 20 mm coin lithium batteries, launching Wednesday and available where specialty batteries are sold, are the first of its kind and made from a proprietary titanium alloy material, instead of the usual stainless steel material found in similar batteries.
—ABC News, 6 May 2026
In many cases, simpler formulas are more effective than products loaded with proprietary blends.
—Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Sacbee.com, 6 May 2026
Large language models that are open, rather than proprietary, are easier to assess.
—Ahmed Hamza, The Conversation, 5 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for proprietary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for proprietary
exclusive
Adjective
-
That came a day after Montverde Academy junior Samuel Johnson, already in the exclusive 50 foot club, jumped 50-4¼ to take the 2A championship.—
Buddy Collings,
The Orlando Sentinel,
10 May 2026
-
The day previous—on Clooney’s actual birthday—the couple spent time on the ultra-exclusive, glamorous Île de Bendor, off the coast of Bandol.—
Anna Cafolla,
Vogue,
9 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Proprietary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/proprietary. Accessed 14 May. 2026.
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