proprietor

/prəˈpraɪətə(r)/ (bre, ipa) · /prəˈpraɪətər/ (ame, ipa) · /prə-ˈprī-ə-tər/ (ame, mw)

proprietor — noun

1. someone who owns a business — such as a shop, hotel, café, or newspaper company

1.名詞B2
釋義

someone who owns a business — such as a shop, hotel, café, or newspaper company — and often runs its daily operations directly

例句

Camila, the proprietor of the corner bakery, arrives at 4 a.m. to bake fresh bread.

proprietor + of + specific business type (bakery)

Ishaan spoke to the previous proprietor about the hotel's running costs before signing the contract.

collocation: previous proprietor

同義詞
  • owner

    more general and less formal; can apply to anything from a car to a company

  • business owner

    more transparent and modern, but less formal and established in tone

  • shopkeeper

    limited to retail shops; more everyday and informal

  • proprietress

    dated feminine form; very rarely used today

反義詞
  • employee

    someone who works for the business but does not own it

  • tenant

    someone who rents a space rather than owning the business

文法句型

proprietor + of + [business]

用法筆記

Proprietor is more formal than owner and typically implies that the person both owns and manages the business, rather than simply holding ownership as an investment. The feminine form proprietress is now very rare and may sound dated; proprietor is the standard gender-neutral term.

常見錯誤

❌The proprietor of this car is my uncle.
✅The owner of this car is my uncle.
💡Proprietor is used for businesses, not for personal possessions like cars or houses.
❌She is the proprietor of the marketing department.
✅She is the head of the marketing department.
💡Proprietor refers to owning a whole business, not being in charge of a department within an organisation.