A Dictionary of Cont..

proportion 398
favor of, especially one who seeks to obtain probate
of a will. By extension, and by ignorant or
willful misconstruction of the strict sense of the
term, proponent has come to mean one who supports
a cause or doctrine, a supporter. This
extension is regrettable because it blurs the distinction
between proponent, an author or prime
mover, and supporter, one who merely upholds,
endorses, or allies himself with that which the
proponent has advanced.
proportion is a word which seems to invite misuse.
Strictly speaking, it describes a comparative
relation between things or magnitudes as to
size, quantity, number, ratio (His arms were
long in proportion to the rest of his body.
Though he has a quarter of the votes, this is
not a large enough proportion to permit him
to have things his own way). By an understandable
extension, proportion in the plural has
come to mean dimensions (It was a canvas
of large proportions). The real damage comes
with the further extension to mean a portion or
part without indication of its relation to a whole.
If we say The picnic was attended by a proportion
of the higher oficers of the company, we
have really said nothing. Number would have
been a better word. See also part; portion; share;
pr$&e; purpose. These verbs, though variant
forms of the same word, mean distinctly separate
things. One purposes for oneself; one proposes
to others. Purpose means to put before oneself
as something to be done or accomplished (I purpose
to finish this book within three months).
Propose means to put forward a matter, subject,
case for consideration, acceptance, or action (I
propose that we refer the matter to a committee
for study and recommended action).
Propose may be followed by an infinitive, as
in he proposes to go tomorrow, or by the -ing
form of a verb, as in he proposes going tomorrow.
The two forms are equally acceptable. Propose
may also be followed by a clause, but the
clause verb must be a subjunctive or a subjunctive
equivalent, as in he proposes he go at once.
Purpose may be followed by an infinitive, but
not by an -ing form or a clause.
proposition; proposal; plan. Of these three words,
proposition is the most specific, plan the most
general. A plan is any method of thinking out
acts and purposes beforehand (What are your
plans for Saturday night?). A proposal is a plan,
a scheme, an offer to be accepted or rejected
(The proposal of the union, to establish a retirement
fund to which the company was to contribute
half, was received coldly by the management.
The enemy soon made proposals of peace). The
word has also a special meaning in the sense of
an offer of marriage.
A proposition is a proposal in which the terms
are clearly stated and their advantageous nature
emphasized. A business proposition is a much
more specific, immediate, and detailed thing than
a business proposal. The trouble with proposition
is that it is overused and often misused. It is
frequently substituted for the more accurate plan
or proposal (Zt looks like a paying proposition),
or for such words as task, affair, or matter (That’s
a wholly different proposition!).
In nonstandard American usage a proposition,
in some contexts, means a suggestion, from a
man to a woman, of illicit sexual relations. In
this sense, and in this sense chiefly, the word is
used as a verb (You proposition a dame like that
and she’ll throw you out of the house).
proprietrix is affected and proprietress umtecessary
unless one wants to insist on the fact that a
certain proprietor is a woman.
propriety. See decorum.
prosaic and prosy are closely related in meaning.
Indeed, the primary sense of one is the secondary
sense of the other, and vice versa.
Prosaic, in its commonest contemporary sense,
means commonplace or dull, matter-of-fact, unimaginative
(Life in a small industrial town
seems very prosaic to the sons and daughters who
have been away to college). In its now less used
sense, though this was its original sense, it means
having the character or spirit of prose as opposed
to poetry, as verse or writing (Wordsworth’s later
poetry is often prosaic). Prosy, a word heard nowhere
near so often, means, in its commonest
contemporary sense, of the nature of or resembling
prose (That was a pretty prosy speech for
so poetic an occasion). In its less often used
sense, it means prosaic, commonplace, dull or
wearisome (Daniel Deronda is an amiable monomaniac
and occasionally a very prosy moralist).
Some pundits would have prosaic mean commonplace
and prosy mean tediously commonplace;
but although the distinction might be valuable,
usage does not support it.
proscribe. See prescribe.
prosecute. See. persecute.
proselyte; proselytize. The English use proselyte
as a noun only, meaning one who has come over
or changed from one opinion, religious belief,
sect, or the like, to another; a convert, As a verb,
meaning to induce someone to make such a
change, the English use proselytize. Americans
prefer to use proselyte m a verb also (The older
proselyting worked more slowly, perhaps more
surely, but never so inclusively -Walter Lippmann).
prospect, to signify what the English would call
a prospective customer, must now be accepted as
standard in American usage (During the Florida
land boom free buses took prospects about the
major cities. We start off by sending form letters
to several thousand prospects).
prospective. See perspective.
prospective; putative. Prospective means expected,
in prospect, future (My prospective mother-inlaw
arrives tomorrow). Putative means that
which is supposed, reputed, or commonly regarded
as such (There are some who insist that
Thomas Lincoln was only Abraham Lincoln’s
putative father and that his real father was John
C. Calhoun).
prospectus. The plural is prospectuses or prospectus,
not prospecti.
prostrate. See prone.