What does apprizing mean?
Apprizing is the present participle of the verb "apprise", meaning to inform or notify someone of something, typically in formal contexts such as law, diplomacy, and business. A manager might be kept apprizing the board of quarterly results, or a counsel apprizing a client of procedural developments. The word carries a distinctly formal, professional tone and appears most often in written rather than casual speech. Adding to the potential confusion, "apprize" is also an accepted, though now uncommon, variant spelling of "appraise", so "apprizing" can occasionally denote assessing or estimating the value of property — as when an expert apprizes an estate's contents before a sale. In modern usage, however, readers are far more likely to encounter "appraising" for valuation and "apprise" (or simply "inform") for notification. The -ize spelling survives chiefly in older texts and certain legal traditions, making "apprizing" a word worth recognizing even if rarely chosen.
verb (present participle)The present participle of "apprise": informing or notifying someone of something. As a rarer variant spelling, it can also mean assessing or valuing something (the participle of "apprize").
- Informing or notifying someone of something (present participle of "apprise").
- Assessing or estimating the value of something (present participle of "apprize", a less common variant of "appraise").
"The ambassador was apprizing the government of developments in the negotiations."
"The legal team kept the client apprizing of every development in the case."
"An independent expert was engaged, apprizing the estate's antiques before the auction."
Spelled with a Z instead of an S, "apprizing" can mean either telling someone the news or putting a price on their possessions — one letter, two jobs.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of apprizing
The verb "apprise" entered English from French "appriser", ultimately built on Latin roots: "ad-" (to, toward) plus "pretium" (price), via Late Latin "pretiare", to set a price upon or value. The same Latin root gives English words such as "apprehend", "comprehend", and "enterprise" through related Latin formations. Because the notion of setting a value underlies both senses, "apprise" (to inform) and "appraise" (to assess) share this ancestry, which explains why the -ize spelling "apprize" has historically served for both meanings since its adoption in the early modern period.
Related word forms
How apprizing is actually used
The spelling "apprize" (and thus "apprizing") is considerably less common than "apprise"/"appraising"; many style guides prefer "apprise" for the sense of notifying and "appraise" for valuation. The word carries a formal register, typical of legal, diplomatic, and business writing.
Easily confused with apprizing
"Appraising" means assessing the value or quality of something, while "apprizing" most commonly means informing someone of something — though "apprize" is an accepted variant spelling of "appraise," making the two overlap in some dictionaries.
"Appraised" is the past form meaning valued or assessed, whereas "apprizing" is an ongoing action of either notifying someone or, in its rarer sense, valuing something.