private enterprise

noun ECONOMICS

Definition

› [U] the economic system that is based on the principle of companies being owned privately, rather than by the government: The relationship between private enterprise and local government has been a basic feature of China's swift development.

› [C] a company that is not owned by the government: public and private enterprises Foreign-trading rights have now been extended to many private enterprises.

→ Compare public enterprise

(Definition of private enterprise noun from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)