What does "proper" mean? I'm confused.
I came across the word "proper" while reading a random comment on a video about WW2 Japanese history on Youtube.
"Showing even more dedication to their ideology was when Americans started landing on Japan **proper**, both civilians and soldiers committed suicide rather than be taken prisoner".
I looked the word up on Lexico.com. This is what it gives: "part of speech: adverb; British informal; definition--satisfactorily or correctly"
At first, I genuinely thought "proper" meant "satisfactorily or correctly" just as Lexico's dictionary entry stated. I even tried the "replace-and-plug" method whereby I replaced the word "proper" and inserted the aforementioned dictionary definition into the context of the foregoing comment, to see if there is a flow. Unfortunately, the sentence still didn't make any lick of sense.
Next, I looked up the word on Collins Dictionary and I got this:
"You can add proper after a word to indicate that you are referring to the central and most important part of a place, event, or object and want to distinguish it from other things that are not regarded as being important or central to it.
Example: A distinction must be made between archaeology proper and science-based archaeology"
I am still confused. Please explain what the word proper means.
Top answer
'proper' is like 'itself'. Japan proper ~ Japan itself ~ mainland Japan This excludes such land masses as islands that are part of or claimed by Japan. Often used this way with the names of nations or cities.
- 'proper' is like 'itself'.
- Japan proper ~ Japan itself ~ mainland Japan This excludes such land masses as islands that are part of or claimed by Japan.
- Often used this way with the names of nations or cities.
- The Collins Dictionary definition is right.
- archaeology proper ~ archaeology itself This excludes other disciplines related to archaeology, but not normally considered archaeology in its strictest sense.
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'proper' is like 'itself'.
Japan proper ~ Japan itself ~ mainland Japan
This excludes such land masses as islands that are part of or claimed by Japan.
Often used this way with the names of nations or cities.
The Collins Dictionary definition is right.
archaeology proper ~ archaeology itself
This excludes other disciplines related to archaeology, but no
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