privateer

/ˌpɹaɪ.vəˈtɪə/US/ˌpɹaɪ.vəˈtɪɚ/

privateer noun: a privately owned warship that acted under a letter of marque to attack enemy merchant ships and take possession of their cargo.

Noun

privateer (plural privateers)

(historical) A privately owned warship that acted under a letter of marque to attack enemy merchant ships and take possession of their cargo.
(historical) An officer or any other member of the crew of such a ship; a government-sanctioned pirate.
- Kidd soon threw off the character of a privateer and became a pirate.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XXV, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
An advocate or beneficiary of privatization of a government service or activity.
- This is a major victory, not only for CUPW because it will deter profit-hungry privateers from taking work away from CUPW members, but also because it gives union protection to those employed by the privateers.1985, British Columbia. Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission, Summary of Proceedings, page 421
- Privateers, such as Osborne and Gaebler, promise that good competition will not become bad — will not become cutthroat competition — if good competition is "carefully structured and managed;"2001, George Beam, Quality Public Management: What it is and how it Can be Improved and […]
(Australia, Canada, US) A private individual entrant into a race or competition who does not have the backing of a large, professional team.
(elite championships) A racing team that is not a subsidiary of a large conglomerate, or automotive or vehicle manufacturer.

Verb

privateer (third-person singular simple present privateers, present participle privateering, simple past and past participle privateered)

To function under official sanction permitting attacks on enemy shipping and seizing ship and cargo; to engage in government-sponsored piracy.
To advocate or benefit from privatization of government services.
- The principle of collective bargaining has been a basic point of dispute; it infringes, as Perlman pointed out, the privileges associated with private ownership and management of property. […] These so-called charters were simply a license given to shady elements to privateer against the strong and...1942, Valdimer Orlando Key, Politics, parties and pressure groups, page 95
- The objective of the privatisation law of July 1990 was to achieve an ownership structure similar to that in western Europe within five years, with approximately half of state-owned assets to be privateered in the first three years.1995, Review of agricultural policies: Poland, page 75

privateer meaning in Kannada and Thai

privateer in Kannada

ಖಾಸಗಿ ಶಸ್ತ್ರಸಜ್ಜಿತ ನೌಕೆ, ಖಾಸಗಿ ಶಸ್ತ್ರಸಜ್ಜಿತ ನೌಕೆಮುಖ್ಯಾಧಿಕಾರಿ

privateer in Thai

officer or crew of a privateer ship: สลัดหลวง sà-làt-luǎng

Examples of privateer in a sentence

Privatization advocates, or “privateers,” peddle the simple message that privatization is always good.2013, Peter Downs, Schoolhouse Shams: Myths and Misinformation in School Reform:
They are generally kept in "detention centers" in the Australian desert, or on islands in international waters privateered by the government.2004, Harvard Political Review, volume 31, page 31:

All 10 example sentences with privateer

Forms of privateer

Noun
plural	privateers
Verb
third-person singular present	privateers
present participle	privateering
past participle	privateered
past	privateered

Plural of privateer: privateers

Origin of privateer

From private + -eer probably after volunteer, shortened from the original term "private man-of-war".

Words formed from privateer

privateersman

Words that rhyme with privateer

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about privateer

What does privateer mean?: Privateer means a privately owned warship that acted under a letter of marque to attack enemy merchant ships and take possession of their cargo.
What is privateer in Kannada?: Privateer in Kannada is ಖಾಸಗಿ ಶಸ್ತ್ರಸಜ್ಜಿತ ನೌಕೆ, ಖಾಸಗಿ ಶಸ್ತ್ರಸಜ್ಜಿತ ನೌಕೆಮುಖ್ಯಾಧಿಕಾರಿ. See Privateer meaning in Kannada.
How do you use privateer in a sentence?: Privatization advocates, or “privateers,” peddle the simple message that privatization is always good.
What part of speech is privateer?: Privateer can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce privateer?: Privateer is pronounced /ˌpɹaɪ.vəˈtɪə/ (UK).
What is the plural of privateer?: The plural of privateer is privateers.

Words near privateer in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: privateer (page history and authors); privateer (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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)-Vealhurl-privateer.wav.

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