proprietorial

• “The sacking by Abramovich of Ray Wilkins, Ancelotti's friend and ally, wiped out the manager's autonomy and showed him to be powerless in the face of proprietorial capriciousness.”

  The Guardian: Carlo Ancelotti on the precipice as Chelsea prepare for Old Trafford | Paul Hayward

• “It's nice to be needed again and I like how the boys have come back breezily casual, slinging a cheery proprietorial arm around my waist as I bring more snacks, taking me for granted.”

  The Guardian: Diary of a separation

• “Depending on how serious the rule is, even a technical violation can sometimes be serious; but sometimes it just isn't, and reasonable proprietorial discretion will just let it be.”

  Discourse.net: FBI Wiretapping Scandal: Am I Reading this Right?

• “You point to a particular case of proprietorial misconduct, by people you don't say are Bush appointees, who are apparently not working for a Bush appointee, and who were then slapped down by a Bush-appointed judge, as making it "increasingly clear that something very very bad happened to the US Justice system during the Bush administration.”

  Discourse.net: Stopping the Rot in the US Justice System

• “(For a local example of a similar problem with proprietorial ethics, see this.)”

  Discourse.net: Stopping the Rot in the US Justice System

• “Via TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime, a pointer to an inspiring judicial decision to dismiss a criminal case in light of systematic long-running proprietorial misconduct.”

  Discourse.net: Stopping the Rot in the US Justice System

• “He had never acted with such proprietorial zeal either before or since.”

  The Wall Street Journal: There's Something About Truffles

• “Happily, she is not one of those terrifying literary widows you read about within the pages of the New Yorker, hoarding and proprietorial, always firing off furious letters to this inquisitive scholar and that nosy biographer: a wife desperate to bolster her role as muse and amanuensis.”

  The Guardian: Saul Bellow's widow on his life and letters: 'His gift was to love and be loved'

• “Spotify's software is designed to subtly echo that of iTunes, but with a more flexible and less proprietorial feel.”

  The Guardian: Spotify announces launch in the US

• “He gives his new hairstyle a proprietorial pat, which suggests both contentment and the lingering astonishment he seems so keen to bury in conversation.”

  The Guardian: Christopher Jefferies: 'It was like having your personality left in ruins'

Show 10 more examples...