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private
[prahy-vit]
adjective
belonging to some particular person.
private property.
pertaining to or affecting a particular person or a small group of persons; individual; personal.
for your private satisfaction.
confined to or intended only for the persons immediately concerned; confidential.
a private meeting.
personal and not publicly expressed.
one's private feelings.
not holding public office or employment.
private citizens.
not of an official or public character; unrelated to one's official job or position.
a former senator who has returned to private life;
a college president speaking in his private capacity as a legal expert.
removed from or out of public view or knowledge; secret.
private papers.
not open or accessible to the general public.
a private beach.
undertaken individually or personally.
private research.
without the presence of others; alone.
Let's go into another room where we can be private.
Synonyms: retiredHe wants to meet us in a more private place.
preferring privacy; retiring.
a very private person.
intimate; most personal.
private behavior.
of, having, or receiving special hospital facilities, privileges, and services, especially a room of one's own and liberal visiting hours.
a private room;
a private patient.
of lowest military rank.
of, relating to, or coming from nongovernmental sources.
private funding.
noun
a soldier of one of the three lowest enlisted ranks.
privates. private parts.
private
/ ˈpraɪvɪt /
adjective
not widely or publicly known
they had private reasons for the decision
confidential; secret
a private conversation
not for general or public use
a private bathroom
(prenominal) individual; special
my own private recipe
(prenominal) having no public office, rank, etc
a private man
(prenominal) denoting a soldier of the lowest military rank
a private soldier
of, relating to, or provided by a private individual or organization, rather than by the state or a public body
the private sector
private housing
(of a place) retired; sequestered; not overlooked
(of a person) reserved; uncommunicative
in secret; confidentially
noun
a soldier of the lowest rank, sometimes separated into qualification grades, in many armies and marine corps
private first class
Other Word Forms
- privately adverb
- privateness noun
- quasi-private adjective
- quasi-privately adverb
- unprivate adjective
- unprivately adverb
- unprivateness noun
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of private1
Idioms and Phrases
More idioms and phrases containing private
- free (private) enterprise
- in private
Example Sentences
“In her final months, she was surrounded only by her closest family, who chose to keep things very private. Even longtime friends weren’t fully aware of what was happening.”
Meanwhile, Neil Jefferson of the Home Builders Federation, which represents private housebuilding companies, warned the government's target was "looking increasingly distant".
Major private credit players such as KKR and Apollo Global Management have also sold off.
At times like this, it is also fair to say there is some divergence between the public words of diplomacy and what is being said in private.
While councils are responsible for clearing fly-tipping from public land, they do not have to clear waste from private land.
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Related Words
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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