The appropriate adjective qualifies that one or that which is consistent, coherent or related to certain conditions or needs. For example: “I think the new governor has given a speech appropriate to the social context”, “We have to hire a manager with the appropriate profile for the company to maintain its growth”, “That suit is not appropriate for an event like this type ”.
The appropriateness, in this framework, is something logical or consistent with the environment or the state of things. If a lawyer must attend a job interview, it is appropriate to wear a shirt, tie and jacket. On the other hand, if she wears shorts and a soccer jersey, her clothing will not be suitable for a work meeting.
Like any other term of a subjective, appropriate nature, it is not usually used to describe something undeniable and necessarily valid (such as being a property of the field of physics that is always fulfilled), but rather points out issues framed in a cultural context, which time is limited by the time to which it belongs.
Taking the example of clothing that is appropriate for a job interview, it is important to note that there are now many companies that admit the use of casual clothing to their employees. Although this does not occur in the field of law, which is why lawyers still have the obligation to dress formally, it is commonplace in the technology industry, especially in software development.
This has not always been the case, since even in this item the use of formal clothing was imposed in the late 80s and early 90s. This change does nothing but confirm the subjective nature of the appropriate term, since even in the same building it can take on different meanings from one year to the next, from one day to the next.
Certain objects are used appropriately and others are not correct and may even be dangerous. The proper use of scissors is to apply force to cut paper or cardboard: it is not appropriate to use it to threaten another person or to cut wood. It is also not appropriate to use a revolver to celebrate, shooting in the air, since this practice could result in the death of anyone due to bullets.
On the other hand, manufacturers usually indicate the appropriate use of their products in a section of the user manual, to minimize the risks of accidents, as well as the probability of lawsuits by their customers. Of course, this is often nothing more than a mere list of suggestions, and not absolute truths; for example, for some products the use of rechargeable batteries is not recommended, but this does not prevent millions of people from using them and not suffering any negative consequences, such as further deterioration.
Appropriate, on the other hand, is a conjugation of the verb to appropriate: to keep the property of something. More precisely, it is her participle, and can be used for the formation of compound times, as shown below: “I have not appropriated any belonging to that woman: the complaint is false”, “They accuse the mayor of having appropriated funds intended for public works ”, “ The company has appropriated public space that belonged to all the neighbors: we demand that the land be returned to us! ” .
Depending on the Spanish-speaking country, the use of compound tenses is more or less frequent, and therefore can be formal or colloquial. In Argentina it is more normal to resort to the Simple Past tense (“The mayor appropriated public funds”), while in Spain the exact opposite occurs.
