private
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Belonging or about a person person, group of people, or entity that is not the state.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pryvuhtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɹaɪvət
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Belonging or pertaining to an individual person, group of people, or entity that is not the state.
Relating to an individual or group of individuals outside of their official roles; often, sensitive or personal.
Not publicly known or divulged; secret, confidential; (of a message) intended only for a specific person or group.
Protected from view or disturbance by others; secluded; not publicly accessible.
Not in governmental office or employment.
Secretive; reserved.
noun
A doctor working in privately rather than publicly funded health care.
An enlisted man of the lowest rank in the Army or Marines
“Our prisoner was just a private and knew nothing of value.”
A soldier of the lowest rank in the army.
usually in the plural
A private lesson.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Belonging or pertaining to an individual person, group of people, or entity that is not the state.
Used this way, private is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
External sex organ.
An officer or crew member of a privateer.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Kept private or confined to those intimately concerned.
Change from governmental to private control or ownership.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A telephone line serving a single subscriber.
A nuisance that interferes with your interest in and private use and enjoyment of your land.
External sex organ.
The practice of a profession independently and not as an employee.
Movable property (as distinguished from real estate).
A road leading up to a private house.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Changing something from state to private ownership or control.
Changing something from state to private ownership or control.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.