Proprietor

//pɹəˈpɹaɪətɚ// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
An owner.
"Here the proprietor has had the good sense of holding on to the good old fashion of giving his customers their moneyworth of good wines and liquors."
2
(law) someone who owns (is legal possessor of) a business wordnet
3
A sole owner of an unincorporated business, also called a sole proprietor.
4
One of the owners of an unincorporated business, a partner.
5
One or more persons to whom a colonial territory is assigned, like a fief, including its administration.
"From 10 September 1621 till 12 June 1632, Sir William Alexander, styled Earl of Stirling and Viscount of Canada, was proprietor of the Scottish colony Nova Scotia."

Synonyms

landlord owner partner principal beneficiary boss

Example

"The proprietor of the store worked at the head of his employees."

Etymology

Probably from proprietary + -or.

Related phrases

Lord proprietor sole proprietor business owner sole proprietor

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.