different between apropos vs conventional

English

Alternative forms

• à propos
• àpropos

Etymology

Borrowed from French à propos (“on that subject”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?æp.???p??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?æp.???po?/
• Rhymes: -??

Adjective

apropos (comparative more apropos, superlative most apropos)

1. Of an appropriate or pertinent nature.
   • 1877, Jules Verne, translated by Frederick Amadeus Malleson, Journey into the Interior of the Earth, Chapter VI,

     Nothing easier. I received not long ago a map from my friend, Augustus Petermann, at Leipzig. Nothing could be more apropos.
2. by the way, incidental
   • 1877, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

     Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. "No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin," he observed. "Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends' thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of an hour's silence is really very showy and superficial. He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe appeared to imagine."

Synonyms

• (by the way): by the way, incidentally, incidental

Translations

Preposition

apropos

1. Regarding or concerning.
   • 2011, Jeremy Harding, "Diary", London Review of Books, 33.VII:

     Few have the same root and branch obsession with the recent past or the avenger’s recall (‘the necessity for long memory and sarcasm in argument’, as he wrote apropos the old left intelligentsia in New York).

Synonyms

• about, as for; See also Thesaurus:about

Antonyms

• malapropos

Derived terms

• apropos of
• apropos of nothing

Translations

Adverb

apropos

1. By the way.
2. Timely; at a good time.
3. To the purpose; appropriately.

Translations

Anagrams

• Sapporo

Danish

Alternative forms

• (nonstandard) à propos

Etymology

Borrowed from French à propos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /apropo/, [ap???op?o], [?p???op?o]

Noun

apropos n (singular definite aproposet or apropos'et, plural indefinite aproposer or apropos'er)

1. aside

Inflection

Preposition

apropos

1. apropos (regarding or concerning)

Adverb

apropos

1. apropos

German

Etymology

Borrowed from French à propos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ap?o?po?]

Adverb

apropos

1. apropos

Synonyms

• nebenbei
• übrigens

Further reading

• “apropos” in Duden online

English

Etymology

convention +? -al

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?v?n??n?l/

Adjective

conventional (comparative more conventional, superlative most conventional)

1. Pertaining to a convention, as in following generally accepted principles, methods and behaviour.
2. Ordinary, commonplace.
3. Banal, trite, hackneyed, unoriginal or clichéd.
4. (weaponry) Pertaining to a weapon which is not a weapon of mass destruction.
5. (agriculture) Making use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
6. (bridge) In accordance with a bidding convention, as opposed to a natural bid.

Synonyms

• (pertaining to a convention): typical, canonical
• (banal): stereotypical

Antonyms

• (pertaining to a convention): atypical, out of the ordinary, unconventional
• (ordinary): imaginative
• (weapons): nuclear
• (agriculture): organic
• (bridge): natural

Derived terms

Related terms

• convention

Translations

Noun

conventional (plural conventionals)

1. (finance) A conventional gilt-edged security, a kind of bond paying the holder a fixed cash payment (or coupon) every six months until maturity, at which point the holder receives the final payment and the return of the principal.

Further reading

• "conventional" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 80.