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private Definition

pri·vate (prī′vət)

adjective

  1. of, belonging to, or concerning a particular person or group; not common or general private property, a private joke
  2. not open to, intended for, or controlled by the public a private school
  3. for an individual person a private room in a hospital
  4. not holding public office a private citizen
  5. away from public view; secluded a private dining room
  6. not publicly or generally known; confidential a private matter
  7. tending to keep one's personal matters to oneself a private person
  8. carried out on an individual basis private medical practice
  9. engaged in work independent of institutions, organizations, agencies, etc. private detective, private tutor

Etymology: ME pryvat < L privatus, belonging to oneself, not to the state < privare, to separate, deprive < privus, separate, peculiar, prob. akin to OL pri: see prime

noun

  1. the genitals
  2. an enlisted person of either of the two lowest ranks in the U.S. Army or of the lowest rank in the U.S. Marine Corps

private Related Forms
pri′·vately adverb
private Idioms

go private

Finance to restore private ownership of a corporation by buying back publicly held stock

in private

privately or secretly; not publicly

private Synonyms

private

modif.

special, separate, sequestered, retired, secluded, withdrawn, removed, not open, behind the scenes, off the record, privy, in camera (Latin), clandestine, single; see also hidden 2, individual 1, isolated, own, secret 1, solitary.

Antonyms public*, open*, exposed.

in private

privately, personally, not publicly; see secretly.

private Synonyms

private

n.

enlisted man, infantryman; private first class; see sailor, soldier.

private Usage Examples

Modifying Another Word

  • strictly: A ministry spokesman said: " A work contract of this kind is a strictly private affair and is the decision of Mr Stange.
  • notoriously: The Telegraph story on his death: He was notoriously private.
  • completely: You can also send encrypted files as attachments for completely private emails.
  • very: A small well screened plot can be very private indeed.
  • largely: He is also patron of the host club and a keen supporter of this and other regular activities allowed on this largely private park.
  • even: What would readers prefer: a city full of out-of-control drunks or quiet houses or even private bars full of peaceful stoners?

Preposition: without

  • guest: The occasion can be shared with family and friends or the ceremony can be held in private without guests.

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • make: Select the Sharing tab, then under ' Local sharing and security ' check the box ' Make this folder private ' .

Modifies a noun

  • sector: The Private sector has also invested in the area.
  • message: I had CIN 3. If you don't want to say on the site please feel free to private message me.
  • company: Don't they realize there are private companies trying to earn some cash here?
  • landlord: Private landlords letting without an agent will also be required to join the scheme.
  • pool: Outside: Private swimming pool ( 8m x 4m ).
  • investor: A private investor is to build a modern oil extraction plant.

Used with adjective complement

  • keep: You can be certain that all information you provide will be kept private.
  • go: The NHS route had a long waiting list so I asked about going private.
  • offer: Based in Kyleakin Alasdair Ross offers private guided tours by car of the Isle of Skye and West Highlands.
  • hold: Further, corporations do not have to file state tax returns and share information is held private.
  • mean: I went to a prep school and afterward public school ( note for non-UK readers: ' public ' here means private ).
  • require: Require most private of plan provisions for encouraging employe.
private Quotes

   It is the business of a statesman to judge of the expediency of different schemes of economy, and by degrees to model the minds of his subjects so as to induce them from the allurement of private interest to concur in the execution of his plan.

—Steuart (later Denham), SirJames

Now, on Friday noon, I am to become a private citizen. I am proud to do so. I look forward to it.

—Eisenhower, Dwight D(avid)

The poet must be free to love or hate as the spirit moves him, freeto change, freeto be a chameleon, freetobe an enfant terrible. He must above all never worry about his effect on other people.Power requires that one do just that all the time. Power requires that the inner person never be unmasked.No, we poetshavetogo naked. And since this is so, it is better that we stay private people; a naked public person would be rather ridiculous, what?

—Sarton, May

The three most important things a man has are, briefly, his private parts, his money, and his religious opinions.

—Butler, Samuel

I hold no brief for private enterprise.But I have unshakeable faith in individual enterprise.

—Burton, C(harles) L(uther)

Whenpeopledonot respect uswearesharplyoffended; yet deep down in his private heart no man much respects himself.

—Twain, Mark pseudonym of  Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Poetryisnotanexpressionofthepartyline.It'sthattimeof night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does.

—Ginsberg, Allen

The highest, the most logical, the purest and strongest form of painting is the mural† It is, too, the most disinterested form, for it cannot be made a matter of privategain; itcannot be hiddenaway for thebenefit of a certain privileged few. It is for the people. It is for.

—Orozco,Jose¤   Clemente

He was meddling too much in my private life.

—Williams,TennesseeThomas Lanier

   People in Parliament occupy themselves with private animosities and petty quarrels, and think little of the national interest. It is impossible to credit the serene indifference with which they consider events outside their own country.

—William III also called  William of Orange

The line dividing the state from what is called private enterprise, orat least fromthehighlyorganized part of it, is a traditional fiction.

—Galbraith,John Kenneth

Private faces in public places Are wiser and nicer Than public faces in private places.

—Auden,W(ystan) H(ugh)

There is no private life which has not been determined by a wider public life.

—Eliot, George pseudonym of  MaryAnn Evans

   Private Means is dead God rest his soul, officers and fellow-rankers said.

—Smith, Stevie (Florence Margaret)

What Chekhov saw in our failure to communicate was something positive and precious: the private silence in which we live, and which enables us to endure our own solitude.

—Pritchett, Sir V(ictor) S(awdon)

Pleasures of worse natures Are gladly entertained, and they that shun us Practice in private sports the stews would blush at.

—Massinger, Philip

That grounded maxim So rife and celebrated in the mouths Of wisest men; that to the public good Private respects must yield.

—Milton,John

   She's private to herself, and best of knowledge Whom she will make so happy as to sigh for.

—Beaumont, Francis

Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks thro' Nature, up to Nature's God.

—Pope, Alexander