privilege
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A special advantage or immunity or benefit not enjoyed by all.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
privluhjSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɹɪvlədʒ
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.
noun
A special advantage or immunity or benefit not enjoyed by all
countable
A particular benefit, advantage, or favor; a right or immunity enjoyed by some but not others; a prerogative, preferential treatment.
uncountable
The fact of being privileged; the status or existence of (now especially social or economic) benefit or advantage within a given society.
A right or immunity enjoyed by a legislative body or its members.
An especially rare or fortunate opportunity; the good fortune (to do something).
verb
transitive
To prioritize.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A special advantage or immunity or benefit not enjoyed by all
Used this way, privilege is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use privilege
- “It is a privilege to attend college and pursue higher education.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Blessed with privileges.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The civil right (guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution) to refuse to answer questions or otherwise give testimony against yourself.
The right to be admitted onto the floor of a legislative assembly while it is in session.
The right of a journalist to refuse to divulge sources of confidential information.
Neither spouse can divulge confidential communications from the other while they were married.
The right of a physician to refuse to divulge confidential information from a patient without the consent of the patient.
The right of a lawyer to refuse to divulge confidential information from his client.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: special advantage or immunity
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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.