private

Syllables: pri·vate/ˈpɹaɪ.vɪt/UK[ˈpʰɹaɪ̯vɪt]

private adjective: belonging or pertaining to an individual person, group of people, or entity that is not the state.

Adjective

private (comparative more private, superlative most private)

Belonging or pertaining to an individual person, group of people, or entity that is not the state.
- In some countries, healthcare is provided by both the government and private companies.
- Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16.[…]There are no inspectors, no exams until the age of 18, no school league tables, no private tuition industry, no school...2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30
Relating to an individual or group of individuals outside of their official roles; often, sensitive or personal.
- This book is her private journal.
- It was a very private thing, they felt, and not to be tossed indiscriminately about.1968, Carl Ruhen, The Key Club, Sydney: Scripts, page 78
Not publicly known or divulged; secret, confidential; (of a message) intended only for a specific person or group.
- The identity of the beneficiaries of the trust is private.
- The key point in the original article was that the relationship with the woman, named “Colette,” came to light because Aupetit had sent a private letter meant for her to his secretary instead.2021 December 12, John L. Allen Jr., “In Vatican’s clumsy stab at censorship, the massage becomes the message”, in Crux
Protected from view or disturbance by others; secluded; not publicly accessible.
- Can we go somewhere more private?
- I invited him to take breakfast with me; he accepted the invitation, and told me he would tell me about himself when we were in a more private place.1887, George H. Devol, Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi, page 58
Not in governmental office or employment.
- Military secrets should not be entrusted to unreliable private individuals.
Secretive; reserved.
- He is a very private person.
Not traded by the public.
- private equity
- Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their...2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70
Of a room in a medical facility, not shared with another patient.
Financially reliant on fees rather than government funding.
(not comparable, object-oriented programming) Accessible only to the class itself or instances of it, and not to other classes or even subclasses.

Antonyms:

public, published
Of the mind or language, not in principle experienceable, knowable, or understandable by others.

Noun (1)

private (plural privates)

A soldier of the lowest rank in the army.
A doctor working in privately rather than publicly funded health care.
- In the cities and towns of California, privates are pressuring county governments to close or reduce in size their hospitals and to pay private hospitals for the care of low-income patients. Thus everything is stacked against public hospitals.1973, Health/PAC Bulletin, numbers 48-67, page 2
- Because you are already moving people with the limitations of what we did in 1982 on the capping of Medicare, you are finding out that the privates are picking up that slack, […]1993, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs, The implementation of employer sanctions: Hearings
(euphemistic, in plural) The genitals.

Synonyms:

bits, private parts
(obsolete) A secret message; a personal unofficial communication.
- The Count Meloone, a Noble Lord of France,
  Whose priuate with me of the Dolphines loue,
  s much more generall, then these lines import.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
(obsolete) Personal interest; particular business.
- Nor must I be unmindful of my private.1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, (please specify the page)
(obsolete) Privacy; retirement.
- Go off, I diſcard you: let me enioy my priuate: go off.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
(obsolete) One not invested with a public office.
- And what haue Kings, that Priuates haue not too,[…]1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
(plural-normally) A private lesson.
- If you want to learn ballet, consider taking privates.

Verb

private (third-person singular simple present privates, present participle privating, simple past and past participle privated)

(Internet, transitive) To make something hidden from the public (without deleting it permanently).
- During these negotiations, however, the Kleins say that Hosseinzadeh issued a copyright takedown for the video — even after it had already been privated.2016 May 25, Geoff Weiss, “H3h3Productions Sued For Copyright Infringement By MattHossZone, Spotlighting Fraught Issue Of Fair Use”, in Tubefilter
- Shay has also since briefly returned to social media, making a quick post on Instagram. His account was privated following his scandal in February and his Twitter remains inactive.2017 May 15, Rebecka Schumann, “Shay Carl’s Cam Girl Goes After Another Famous Man On YouTube”, in International Business Times

Noun (2) capitalized: Private

Private (plural Privates)

Alternative letter-case form of private.

private meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

private in Hindi

belonging to, concerning, or accessible only to an individual person or a specific group: निजी nijī
not publicly known; not open; secret: निजी nijī
not in governmental office or employment: निजी nijī
not accessible by the public: निजी nijī, व्यक्तिगत vyaktigat

private in Marathi

belonging to, concerning, or accessible only to an individual person or a specific group: खाजगी khāj̈gī

private in Urdu

نجی, پرائیویٹ

More languagesFewer languages

private in Bengali: প্রাইভেট
private in Telugu: ప్రైవేట్, ప్రయివేటు
private in Malayalam: സ്വകാര്യ svakārya
private in Kannada: ಖಾಸಗಿ
private in Punjabi: ਪ੍ਰਾਈਵੇਟ
private in Gujarati: ખાનગી khāngī
private in Nepali: निजी
private in Tagalog: pribado
private in Arabic: خَاصّ ḵāṣṣ, شَخْصِيّ šaḵṣiyy, جُنْدِيّ jundiyy
private in Malay: peribadi, swasta, persendirian, prebet
private in Indonesian: pribadi, perseorangan, privat, swasta
private in Persian: سرباز sarbâz, سرباز وظیفه sarbâz-e vazife
private in Thai: พลทหาร pon-tá-hǎan
private in Vietnamese: riêng tư, binh nhì

Examples of private in a sentence

Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
“Actually, yes,” I joked in a now-privated video response.2022 February 18, Sonja Smith-Yang, “I went viral on TikTok and it wasn’t what I expected”, in The Independent:

All 40 example sentences with private

Synonyms of private

Antonyms

Forms of private

Adjective
comparative	more private
superlative	most private
Noun
plural	privates
plural	Privates
Verb
third-person singular present	privates
present participle	privating
past participle	privated
past	privated

Plural of private: privates

Origin of private

From Middle English privat(e) (“individual, exclusive, private”), from Latin prīvātus (“bereaved, deprived, set apart from, release”), perfect passive participle of prīvō (“to bereave, deprive, release”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more), from prīvus (“private, one's own, proper”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per; compare prime, prior, pristine. Doublet of privy.

Words formed from private

Phrases with private

44 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about private

What does private mean?: Private means belonging or pertaining to an individual person, group of people, or entity that is not the state.
What is private in Hindi?: Private in Hindi is निजी (nijī), व्यक्तिगत (vyaktigat), सैनिक (sainik). See Private meaning in Hindi.
How do you use private in a sentence?: Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.
What part of speech is private?: Private can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce private?: Private is pronounced /ˈpɹaɪ.vɪt/.

Words near private in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: private (page history and authors); Private (page history and authors); private (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); private (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); private (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); private (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); private (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); private (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); private (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-private.wav.

Cite this entry: “private.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/private. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.