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pri·vate
 (pr   v  t)
KEY
ADJECTIVE:
-
- Secluded from the sight, presence, or intrusion of others:
a private hideaway.
- Designed or intended for one's exclusive use:
a private room.
-
- Of or confined to the individual; personal:
a private joke; private opinions.
- Undertaken on an individual basis:
private studies; private research.
- Of, relating to, or receiving special hospital services and privileges:
a private patient.
- Not available for public use, control, or participation:
a private club; a private party.
-
- Belonging to a particular person or persons, as opposed to the public or the government:
private property.
- Of, relating to, or derived from nongovernment sources:
private funding.
- Conducted and supported primarily by individuals or groups not affiliated with governmental agencies or corporations:
a private college; a private sanatorium.
- Enrolled in or attending a private school:
a private student.
- Not holding an official or public position:
a private citizen.
-
- Not for public knowledge or disclosure; secret:
private papers; a private communication.
- Not appropriate for use or display in public; intimate:
private behavior; a private tragedy.
- Placing a high value on personal privacy:
a private person.
NOUN:
-
-
Abbr.
PVT
or
Pvt
or
Pvt.
A noncommissioned rank in the U.S. Army or Marine Corps that is below private first class.
- One who holds this rank or a similar rank in a military organization.
-
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.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English privat, from Latin prv tus, not in public life, past participle of prvre, to release, deprive, from prvus, single, alone; see per
1 in Indo-European roots
OTHER FORMS:
private·ly
(Adverb),
private·ness
(Noun)
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