proposal

proposal, proposition denote something which is proposed to another for consideration.

Proposal usually carries a clear suggestion of the act of proposing; thus, one receives a proposal, or entertains a proposal, or listens to a proposal. It also commonly implies an offer (as of oneself as a husband, or of a sum of money in return for the transferring of a piece of property)

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a proposal of marriage

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he offered to sweep the floor of the gymnasium then and there. This proposal convinced the Skenes— Shaw

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the steel industry refused to make any wage proposals until it obtained federal clearance for higher steel prices— Current History

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But it may imply the suggestion of a scheme, a plan, or a project which may be accepted or rejected at the will of the one to whom it is proposed

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every proposal for a grant, a subsidy, a loan, is being examined more carefully and less enthusiastically than at any previous time— Harsch

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this proposal was distinctly treasonable, but Burr probably never seriously intended to carry it out— Cox

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Proposition applies primarily to a usually affirmative statement that is propounded for discussion, argument, proof, or disproof

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demonstrate the truth of a proposition

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at first sight the proposition seemed absurd

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the fanatical and ordered mobs . . . proved, if the proposition needed proof, that in a time of crisis men will act from passion— MacLeish

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it is a proposition too plain to be contested, that the constitution controls any legislative act repugnant to it— John Marshall

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The term is also applicable to an implied or expressed principle that is or may be questioned or is regarded from the point of view of its truth or its falsity

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who still fervently espouse the pestilential proposition that the world needs to be saved in a hurry by their own brand of righteousness— Roloy

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Proposition has been and to a restricted extent still is used instead of proposal in the sense of a proposal made formally that some course of action be followed, some policy be adopted, or some honor granted

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we hold it essential to our success . . . that the proposition of Sir George Clerk should be adopted— Wilberforce

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parking meters for Bakersfield again will be a proposition on the June 3 ballot— Los Angeles Examinery

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Proposition may replace proposal in implying an act of proposing

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if you wish to buy this land, make me a proposition

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but in such use it and especially the corresponding verb proposition may carry a hint of irregularity or impropriety that proposal lacks; thus, one offers a proposal of marriage but a proposition of less formal sexual relation

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propositioned him to work for the Soviets after his return to the United States— Expose of Soviet Espionage

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