privity

[ priv-i-tee ]

/ ˈprɪv ɪ ti /

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noun, plural priv·i·ties.

private or secret knowledge.

participation in the knowledge of something private or secret, especially as implying concurrence or consent.

Law. the relation between privies.

Obsolete. privacy.

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Origin of privity

1175–1225; Middle English privete, privite<Old French. See privy, -ity

OTHER WORDS FROM privity

non·priv·i·ty, noun, plural non·priv·i·ties.

Words nearby privity

privet hawk, privilege, privileged, privileged altar, privily, privity, priv. pr., privy, privy chamber, privy coat, privy council

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use privity in a sentence

But Judith had not meddled with the arrangement, and every necessary disposition was made without her privity or advice.
The Deerslayer|James Fenimore Cooper
They stopped at a door in a poor court which they had somehow reached without Mavering's privity.
April Hopes|William Dean Howells
All this whole matter, even to my writing my Letter to Kid, was transacted with the privity and advice of the Councill.
Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period|Various
It has been suggested, that our Commissioners signed this treaty without the privity of the Court of France.
The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. IX|Various

We now know whose act it was, and we know that it was committed without Gladstone's privity.
Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography|George William Erskine Russell

British Dictionary definitions for privity

privity

/ (ˈprɪvɪtɪ) /

noun plural -ties

a legally recognized relationship existing between two parties, such as that between lessor and lessee and between the parties to a contractprivity of estate; privity of contract

secret knowledge that is shared

Word Origin for privity

C13: from Old French priveté

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