private enterprise

American  

noun

1. free enterprise.

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private enterprise British  

noun

1. economic activity undertaken by private individuals or organizations under private ownership Compare public enterprise

2. another name for capitalism

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private enterprise Cultural  

1. Business carried on for profit and not owned by the government; also, the system that discourages public ownership of business; the same as free enterprise. (See private sector.)

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Etymology

Origin of private enterprise

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

What’s more, those are NASA’s plans, and they don’t include military space business or private enterprise, including the communications and imaging networks being built out by SpaceX, AST SpaceMobile, Amazon.com, Planet Labs, and others.

From Barron's • Mar. 25, 2026

If the Pentagon wins at trial, what are the long-term implications for American private enterprise?

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

“We think we are in a pretty good position to be a winner in the inferencing market, because Oracle is by far the world’s largest custodian of high-value private enterprise data.”

From MarketWatch • Dec. 9, 2025

We’re talking about a provision of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which was enacted to give private enterprise more latitude to exploit government-funded research in the public interest.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 13, 2023

The Dutch East India Company, a joint governmental and private enterprise, sent ships to the far corners of the world to acquire rare commodities and resell them at a profit in Europe.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan