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privy

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

An outdoor facility for urination and defecation, whether open or enclosed.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

privee

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpɹɪvi

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. An outdoor facility for urination and defecation, whether open (latrine) or enclosed (outhouse).

  2. A toilet: a fixture used for urination and defecation.

  3. A lavatory: a room with a toilet.

adjective

  1. With knowledge of; party to; let in on.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: An outdoor facility for urination and defecation, whether open (latrine) or enclosed (outhouse).

Used this way, privy 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
Matter-of-fact
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.

Outdoor / toilet

privy chamber

Small

privy purse

Other combinations

privy councilprivy sealprivy councillorlord privymade privyprivy counsellor

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • privy councilnounCompound term

    An advisory council to a ruler (especially to the British Crown).

  • privy pursenounCompound term

    Allowance for a monarch's personal expenses.

  • lord privy sealnounCompound term

    The senior cabinet minister in the British Cabinet who has no official duties.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: outdoor facility for urination and defecation

lavatory

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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.