private

[prahy-vit]

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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.

solitary; secluded: He 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.

Idioms

in private, not publicly; secretly: The hearing will be conducted in private.

Origin of private

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin prīvātus private, literally, taken away (from public affairs), special use of past participle of prīvāre to rob. See deprive, -ate¹

Related formspri·vate·ly, adverbpri·vate·ness, nounqua·si-pri·vate, adjectivequa·si-pri·vate·ly, adverbun·pri·vate, adjectiveun·pri·vate·ly, adverbun·pri·vate·ness, noun

Synonyms for private

2. singular, particular, peculiar. 10. sequestered, retired.

Antonyms for private

2. general, public.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for privates

independent, confidential, separate, secret, individual, exclusive, special, secluded, quiet, soldier, inside, privy, closet, particular, solitary, sailor, infantry, GI, clandestine, discreet

Examples from the Web for privates

Contemporary Examples of privates

But less than two days later, Iranian media outlets reported on funerals held for privates killed in the incident.
Iran Says It’s Under Attack by ISIS
Jassem Al Salami
October 9, 2014
On the other hand the robot can replace at least three privates, and the average income in South Korea is $35,400 a year.
Smoke Rings, Mystery Backpacks and Gun-Toting Robots: The Weird Wartech of the Korean Conflict
Kyle Mizokami
April 3, 2014
Because the mayor sent no pics of his privates and was nothing but a “perfect gentleman.”
Lynsie Lee Isn’t a Vegan and Other Fun Facts About the Stripper Tweeting Cory Booker
Winston Ross
September 26, 2013
I was in charge of 14 privates in my unit, almost all young Sunni Arab guys.
Former Syrian Soldier Describes Life in the Army at the Start of War
Andrew Slater
September 4, 2013
Orders flow down from the Commander in Chief through to the Privates, and activity and reporting flows up.
What Peter Beinart Gets Wrong About Chabad
David Werdiger
July 1, 2013

Historical Examples of privates

Half the privates of his regiment had been dismissed to their native villages.
The Genius
Margaret Horton Potter
Does your honor mane to say that you are going to shoulder a firelock, and just go as privates?
The Young Franc Tireurs
G. A. Henty
The privates are Filipinos, and the whole force is about 7,000 strong.
The Philippine Islands
John Foreman
"Flyin' a yeller flag just now," panted one of the two privates.
Morale
Murray Leinster
The rule, I think, is, that one of the privates shall hold the hat.
White Lies
Charles Reade

British Dictionary definitions for privates

private

adjective

not widely or publicly knownthey had private reasons for the decision

confidential; secreta private conversation

not for general or public usea private bathroom

(prenominal) individual; specialmy own private recipe

(prenominal) having no public office, rank, etca private man

(prenominal) denoting a soldier of the lowest military ranka private soldier

of, relating to, or provided by a private individual or organization, rather than by the state or a public bodythe private sector; private housing

(of a place) retired; sequestered; not overlooked

(of a person) reserved; uncommunicative

in private in secret; confidentially

noun

a soldier of the lowest rank, sometimes separated into qualification grades, in many armies and marine corpsprivate first class

Derived Formsprivately, adverb

Word Origin for private

C14: from Latin prīvātus belonging to one individual, withdrawn from public life, from prīvāre to deprive, bereave

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

Word Origin and History for privates

private

adj.

late 14c., "pertaining or belonging to oneself, not shared, individual; not open to the public;" of a religious rule, "not shared by Christians generally, distinctive; from Latin privatus "set apart, belonging to oneself (not to the state), peculiar, personal," used in contrast to publicus, communis; past participle of privare "to separate, deprive," from privus "one's own, individual," from PIE *prei-wo-, from PIE *prai-, *prei-, from root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per).

Old English in this sense had syndrig. Private grew popular 17c. as an alternative to common (adj.), which had overtones of condescention. Of persons, "not holding public office," recorded from early 15c. In private "privily" is from 1580s. Related: Privately. Private school is from 1650s. Private parts "the pudenda" is from 1785. Private enterprise first recorded 1797; private property by 1680s; private sector is from 1948. Private eye "private detective" is recorded from 1938, American English.

private

1590s, "private citizen," short for private person "individual not involved in government" (early 15c.), or from Latin privatus "man in private life," noun use of the adjective; 1781 in the military sense, short for Private soldier "one below the rank of a non-commissioned officer" (1570s), from private (adj.).

Idioms and Phrases with privates

private

In addition to the idiom beginning with private

private eye

also see:

free (private) enterprise
in private