appropriate
Legislators appropriate appropriate budgets annually.
The sentence describes how lawmakers assign suitable financial plans each year.
Meanings
to take possession of, often without authorization; or, to set aside funds for a specific purpose
- Congress appropriated funds for disaster relief.
- Critics accused the designer of appropriating traditional motifs without credit.
suitable or fitting for a particular situation; correct or proper
- Wear clothing appropriate for the weather.
- His response was appropriate but unenthusiastic.
Word origin
From Latin appropriāre ('to make one's own'), formed from ad- ('to') + proprius ('one's own'). The verb sense — taking something as one's own — is the original Latin meaning; the adjective sense developed in English as 'belonging to, fitting' and then generalized to 'suitable in the circumstances'.
Fun fact
The verb and adjective differ only in the final syllable: /eɪt/ for the verb (rhyming with 'late'), /ət/ for the adjective (a reduced schwa). Pay attention next time you hear 'appropriate' — the speaker's pronunciation reveals whether the word is functioning as an action or a quality.