private
Americanadjective
-
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.
- Synonyms:
- peculiar, particular, singular
-
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:
- retired
-
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.
idioms
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
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
privatenessnoun
-
unprivatenessnoun
-
quasi-privateadjective
-
unprivateadjective
-
privatelyadverb
-
quasi-privatelyadverb
-
unprivatelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of private
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin prīvātus “private,” literally, “taken away (from public affairs),” special use of past participle of prīvāre “to rob”; see deprive, -ate 1
Explanation
Something private is something you don't want to share; it's for your eyes only. Your diary entries and your bank account balance might both be kept private. As a noun, the lowest enlisted rank is called private. You may enlist as a private but have plans to retire from the Army as a four-star general! Sometimes the adjective private is used as the opposite of public. If you own your own island, it's private property. Alcatraz Island, however, is public property and the site of a museum preserving its past life as a famous prison — former home to Al Capone.
Vocabulary lists containing private
"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 6
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Workshop 2, Part 1
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"Two Kinds" and "Novel Musician"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Without the meter, leaks are far harder to detect within pipes on private property.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
On Tuesday and Wednesday, private gauges of manufacturing and services complete the PMI picture for China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Dozens of calls and complaints were made to L.A. city departments and police, he said, but went unaddressed — with officials telling him they couldn’t go inside the private property.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
The Yosemite NPS Employees Union said it was "appalled" by the ceding of public lands for private interests, calling the proposed trade "antithetical to what we stand for" as stewards of the park.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
But her thoughts had become hopelessly tangled, and the only thing that she was certain of was that it would actually be easier to sort all of that out in private.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Taking a step back and looking at initial public offerings and public equity markets versus privates, I think it’s fair to say that somewhere along the line, we’ve lost our way.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
What, Henry asks, “have kings, that privates have not too, save ceremony, save general ceremony?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
They’re going to put aspartame in this possibly-causing-cancer category, along with, oh, putting talcum powder on your privates, or working in a dry cleaner.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2023
The army statement included photos of the four: a corporal, a lance-corporal and two privates.
From BBC ● Apr. 1, 2023
In the dooryard their horses were held by two privates.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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.
