- Not suited to circumstances or needs; unsuitable: improper shoes for a hike; improper medical treatment.
- Not in keeping with conventional mores; indecorous: improper behavior.
- Not consistent with established truth, fact, or rule; incorrect.
- Irregular or abnormal.
improperness im·prop'er·ness n.
SYNONYMS improper, unbecoming, unseemly, indelicate, indecent, indecorous. These adjectives mean not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper. Improper often refers to unethical conduct, a breach of etiquette, or morally offensive behavior: improper business practices; improper behavior at the dinner table. Unbecoming suggests what is beneath the standard implied by one's character or position: language unbecoming to an officer. What is unseemly or indelicate is in gross violation of good taste; indelicate especially suggests immodesty, coarseness, or tactlessness: an unseemly use of profanity; an indelicate suggestion. Indecent refers to what is morally offensive or harmful: an earthy but not indecent story. Indecorous implies violation of societal manners: an indecorous remark about overeating.







