Other forms: proposed, proposes, proposing
To propose something is to put it forward for other people to consider. A councillor proposes a new bus route, a scientist proposes an explanation for the readings, someone stands up at dinner and proposes a toast.
The second use has a life of its own: to propose is to ask someone to marry you, and you propose TO a person — he proposed to her on the beach — never propose her. In committees you propose a motion and somebody else seconds it, and you propose a person for a job or an honour. The grammar is worth pinning down: propose doing something, or propose that we meet on Tuesday. Careful with one pattern, though — propose to do something means intend, not suggest, so I do not propose to answer that is a refusal, not an offer. The noun is proposal; a proposition is a different animal.
1verbsuggestTo put forward a plan or idea for others to consider.~91%
“She proposed a shorter working week as a trial.”
synonyms: suggest, put forward
2verbproposeTo ask someone to marry you.~2%
“He proposed on a wet Tuesday in a supermarket car park.”
3verbnameTo put someone's name forward for a position or an honour.~5%
“Two members proposed her for the chair.”
4verbintendTo intend to do something.~2%
“I do not propose to spend another evening on this.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 18 sentences found in the wild and placed 18 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Propose is a Latin word that grew a French tail. Latin propono meant to put forward, but English took it through Anglo-Norman proposer, whose endings came from poser, to place, which is why the word looks so little like its Latin parent. Propound is the same word arriving by a different road.
Proto-Indo-European
*per-
Latin
propono
Middle French
proposer
Anglo-Norman
proposer
Middle English
proposen
English, today
propose
From Middle English proposen, from Anglo-Norman proposer, propos, Middle French proposer, propos, from Latin propono, with conjugation altered based on poser. a doublet of propound.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA