privatize

Verb

privatize (third-person singular simple present privatizes, present participle privatizing, simple past and past participle privatized)

1. (British, English, Oxford, US) To release government control (of a business or industry) to private industry.

   Synonyms:

   denationalize

   Antonyms:

   deprivatize, nationalize

2. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To render (a variable, etc.) private in scope.
   • If the compiler allocates a privatized variable to a register, it must examine whether the variable is live after the termination of the while-loop.1997, David Sehr, Utpal Banerjee, David Gelernter, Languages and Compilers for Parallel Computing: 9th International Workshop, page 184
3. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive, uncommon) To render a thought or an idea, private in scope.
   • The neoliberal, privatizing version of health in which everyone is responsible for themselves, despite disparities in resources.2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 129