proposal
nounUS /pɹəˈpoʊzəl/ · UK /pɹəˈpəʊzəl/
Etymology From propose + -al.
› Something which is proposed, or offered for…
1
A scheme or design.
- proposals for the construction of a new building
2
The terms or conditions proposed.
- to make proposals for a treaty of peace
- "That's about the size of it," I said. "Now, if it is a fair question, what was your side proposing to shed?" / I had him, there. He saw he had made a blunder, so he hastened to explain it away. He said he had spoken jestingly. Then he added that he and his principal would enjoy axes, and indeed prefer them, but such weapons were barred by the French code, and so I must change my proposal.1880, Mark Twain, chapter VIII, in A Tramp Abroad:
3
The document on which such a thing is written.
- December 22 2016, Simon Parkin in the Irish Times Basement idea to blockbuster: The story of Fifa, the video game Lewis, who had been sent to London to set up EA's European office, wrote a proposal for a lavish, high-tech football...
4
The act of asking someone to be one's spouse; an offer of marriage.
- October 25 2013, Guardian Express Kim Kardashian Says a Prenup Is the Only Way to Marry Kanye may have been love stricken when Kim accepted his proposal to marry him but Kim has always supported the idea of a prenup.
- You could open his collected works almost anywhere and shut your eyes and dab down your finger on some red-hot passage. A proposal of marriage is a thing which it is rather difficult to bring neatly into the ordinary run of conversation. It wants leading up to.1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 4, in Three Men and a Maid:
1 more example
- ‘Louisa, my dear, you are the subject of a proposal of marriage that has been made to me.’ Again he waited, and again she answered not one word. This so far surprised him, as to induce him gently to repeat, ‘a proposal of marriage, my dear.’ To which she returned, without any visible emotion whatever:1854, Charles Dickens, “Chapter XV”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC:
5
Law The offer by a party of what they have in view as to an intended business transaction, which, with acceptance, constitutes a contract.
- Derived terms
- contraproposal, counterproposal, modest proposal, nonproposal, postproposal, preproposal, promposal, proposalist, reproposal, request for proposal, subproposal
- Related terms
- proposition