privileged

[ priv-uh-lijd, priv-lijd ]
See synonyms for privileged on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. belonging to a class that enjoys special privileges; favored: the privileged few.

  2. entitled to or exercising a privilege.

  1. restricted to a select group or individual: privileged information; a privileged position.

  2. Law. (of utterances or communications)

    • not rendering the person making them liable to prosecution for libel or slander, in view of the attendant circumstances.

    • not requiring any testimony concerning them to be presented in court.

  3. Navigation. (of a vessel) having the right of way.

Origin of privileged

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; privilege + -ed3

Other words from privileged

  • non·priv·i·leged, adjective
  • qua·si-priv·i·leged, adjective
  • un·priv·i·leged, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use privileged in a sentence

  • The privileged classes must be ordained by Nature to rule over the non-privileged.

  • For the non-privileged classes the knout or the lash supplemented nearly all punishments of a criminal kind.

    Russia | Donald Mackenzie Wallace

British Dictionary definitions for privileged

privileged

/ (ˈprɪvɪlɪdʒd) /


adjective
  1. enjoying or granted as a privilege or privileges

  2. law

    • not actionable as a libel or slander

    • (of a communication, document, etc) that a witness cannot be compelled to divulge

  1. nautical (of a vessel) having the right of way

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012