private

English Online Dictionary. What means private‎? What does private mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English privat(e) (“individual, exclusive, private”), from Latin prīvātus (“bereaved, deprived, set apart from, release”), perfect passive participle of prīvō (“I bereave, deprive, release”) (see -ate for more), from prīvus (“private, one's own, peculiar”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per; compare prime, prior, pristine. Doublet of privy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪ.vɪt/, /ˈpɹaɪ.vət/
  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): [ˈpʰɹaɪ̯vɪt]
  • (Canada) IPA^(key): [ˈpʰɹaɪ̯vɪt], [ˈpɹəjvət]
  • (General Australian) IPA^(key): [ˈpʰɹɑɪ̯vɪt]
  • (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): [ˈpʰɹɑjvət]
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈprajˌveːʈ/
• Hyphenation: pri‧vate
• Rhymes: -aɪvɪt, -aɪvət

Adjective

private (comparative more private, superlative most private)

1. Belonging or pertaining to an individual person, group of people, or entity that is not the state.
2. Relating to an individual or group of individuals outside of their official roles; often, sensitive or personal.
3. Not publicly known or divulged; secret, confidential; (of a message) intended only for a specific person or group.
4. Protected from view or disturbance by others; secluded; not publicly accessible.
5. Not in governmental office or employment.

6. Secretive; reserved.

7. (finance) Not traded by the public.
8. Of a room in a medical facility, not shared with another patient.
9. (UK, of schools) Financially reliant on fees rather than government funding.
10. (not comparable, object-oriented programming) Accessible only to the class itself or instances of it, and not to other classes or even subclasses.

    Antonyms: public, published

11. (philosophy) Of the mind or language, not in principle experienceable, knowable, or understandable by others.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “generally”): public

Hyponyms

• package-private

Descendants

• → Punjabi: ਪ੍ਰਾਈਵੇਟ (prāīveṭ)
• → Welsh: preifat

Translations

Noun

private (plural privates)

1. A soldier of the lowest rank in the army.
2. A doctor working in privately rather than publicly funded health care.
3. (euphemistic, in the plural) The genitals.
4. (obsolete) A secret message; a personal unofficial communication.
5. (obsolete) Personal interest; particular business.
6. (obsolete) Privacy; retirement.
7. (obsolete) One not invested with a public office.
8. (usually in the plural) A private lesson.

Synonyms

• (genitals): bits, private parts

Translations

Verb

private (third-person singular simple present privates, present participle privating, simple past and past participle privated)

1. (Internet, transitive) To make something hidden from the public (without deleting it permanently).

Derived terms

References

• “private”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• private in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "private" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 242.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “private”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Esperanto

Etymology

From privata (“private”) +‎ -e (adverbial ending).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /priˈvate/
• Rhymes: -ate
• Hyphenation: pri‧va‧te

Adverb

private

1. privately

German

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aːtə

Adjective

private

1. inflection of privat:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

private

1. feminine plural of privato

Verb

private

1. inflection of privare:
   1. feminine plural past participle
   2. second-person plural present indicative
   3. second-person plural imperative

Anagrams

• prative

Latin

Verb

prīvāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of prīvō

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

private

1. definite singular of privat
2. plural of privat

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

private

1. definite singular of privat
2. plural of privat

Spanish

Verb

private

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of privar combined with te

Swedish

Adjective

private

1. definite natural masculine singular of privat