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private
(redirected from Private (disambiguation))

   Also found in: Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
pri·vate  (prvt)
adj.
1.
a. Secluded from the sight, presence, or intrusion of others: a private hideaway.
b. Designed or intended for one's exclusive use: a private room.
2.
a. Of or confined to the individual; personal: a private joke; private opinions.
b. Undertaken on an individual basis: private studies; private research.
c. Of, relating to, or receiving special hospital services and privileges: a private patient.
3. Not available for public use, control, or participation: a private club; a private party.
4.
a. Belonging to a particular person or persons, as opposed to the public or the government: private property.
b. Of, relating to, or derived from nongovernment sources: private funding.
c. Conducted and supported primarily by individuals or groups not affiliated with governmental agencies or corporations: a private college; a private sanatorium.
d. Enrolled in or attending a private school: a private student.
5. Not holding an official or public position: a private citizen.
6.
a. Not for public knowledge or disclosure; secret: private papers; a private communication.
b. Not appropriate for use or display in public; intimate: private behavior; a private tragedy.
c. Placing a high value on personal privacy: a private person.
n.
1.
a. Abbr. PVT or Pvt or Pvt. A noncommissioned rank in the U.S. Army or Marine Corps that is below private first class.
b. One who holds this rank or a similar rank in a military organization.
2. privates Private parts. Often used with the.
Idioms:
go private
To take a publicly owned company into private ownership, as by a leveraged buyout.
in private
Not in public; secretly or confidentially.

[Middle English privat, from Latin prvtus, not in public life, past participle of prvre, to release, deprive, from prvus, single, alone; see per1 in Indo-European roots.]

private·ly adv.
private·ness n.

private [ˈpraɪvɪt]
adj
1. not widely or publicly known they had private reasons for the decision
2. confidential; secret a private conversation
3. not for general or public use a private bathroom
4. (prenominal) individual; special my own private recipe
5. (prenominal) having no public office, rank, etc. a private man
6. (Military) (prenominal) denoting a soldier of the lowest military rank a private soldier
7. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) 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
8. (of a place) retired; sequestered; not overlooked
9. (of a person) reserved; uncommunicative
in private in secret; confidentially
n
(Military) a soldier of the lowest rank, sometimes separated into qualification grades, in many armies and marine corps private first class
[from Latin prīvātus belonging to one individual, withdrawn from public life, from prīvāre to deprive, bereave]
privately  adv

private


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