Meaning of private in English

private

adjective

/ˈpraɪ.vət/ us

/ˈpraɪ.vət/

private adjective (PERSONAL)

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only for one person or group and not for everyone:

She has a small office that is used for private discussions.

I caught him looking through my private papers.

The sign on the gate said "Private Property - No Trespassing!"

Private activities involve personal matters or relationships and are not related to your work:

Apparently in interviews he refuses to talk about his private life.

Private thoughts and opinions are secret and not discussed with other people:

Although I support the project in public, my private opinion is that it will fail.

This is a private matter.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

kept hidden from other people

secretThe spies had a secret meeting.
covertThe government was accused of covert military operations.
clandestineHe arranged a clandestine meeting between his client and the candidate.
confidentialAll the information you give us will be treated as strictly confidential.
classifiedThese documents contain classified information.

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A private place is quiet and has no other people to see or hear you:

Is there somewhere private where we can talk?

A private person does not like to talk about their personal feelings and thoughts:

She's a very private person.

in private

If you talk to someone or do something in private, you do it without other people being present:

Jamie wants to speak to me in private.

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Unless it's marked 'private', my secretary usually opens my post.
The hospital gives mothers no quiet private time to bond with their babies.
We've been invited to a private viewing, before the exhibition opens.
You had no business reading my private letters.
Do you mind? We're trying to have a private conversation here!

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Particular and individual

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Secrecy and privacy

Separateness and isolation in space

Alone

Shy and modest

private adjective (NOT OFFICIAL)

controlled or paid for by a person or company and not by the government:

private education/healthcare

a private doctor/dentist

Banks should be supporting small private businesses.

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She has her own private plane.
She's decided to leave the Health Service and join a private practice.
The government restructured the coal industry before selling it to private owners.
The upper classes usually send their children to expensive private schools.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Business - general words

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Idiom

go private

private

noun [ C ]

/ˈpraɪ.vət/ us

/ˈpraɪ.vət/

(also Private)

a soldier of the lowest rank in an army:

Private Murray/Sam Murray

[ as form of address ] You're dismissed, Private.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Ranks in the Army

(Definition of private from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

private | American Dictionary

private

adjective

/ˈprɑɪ·vɪt/

private adjective (PERSONAL)

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for the use of or belonging to one particular person or group only, or not shared or available to other people:

The sign on the gate said "Private Property – Keep Out."

Let’s go somewhere private so we can talk freely.

in private

If you do something in private, you do it without other people present:

I asked if I could talk to her in private.

private adjective (INDEPENDENT)

[ not gradable ]

belonging to or managed by a person or independent company rather than the government:

The governor visited Ireland as a private citizen (= not as an official).

private

noun [ C ]

/ˈprɑɪ·vɪt/

private noun [C] (RANK)

a person in the military of the lowest rank, below a corporal

(Definition of private from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

private | Business English

private

adjective

/ˈpraɪvɪt/ us

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used to describe a company with shares that are not traded on a stock market:

EM.TV is a private family-owned company.

ECONOMICS

owned or controlled by one person or company, rather than by a government:

Much of the funding for this type of investment comes from public, rather than private, sources.

We need to review public and private interests in order to balance them carefully.

The center has about 85 employees supported by private money from grants and donations.

private health insurance

private agencies/institutions/hospitals

ECONOMICS

private employees, investors, etc. act for themselves, rather than for a government or company:

private buyers/investors

a private contractor/developer

COMMERCE, FINANCE

only offered to particular people or organizations to buy and not offered to the public:

The property was sold by private treaty.

a private sale

intended only for the use of one person or group of people:

a private jet

a private club

MEETINGS

involving only a small group of people and kept secret:

Senior group executives are reported to be in private talks regarding a possible merger.

a private agreement/conversation

connected with your personal life, rather than your job:

Employees are asked to keep private emails/phone calls to a minimum.

go private

FINANCE, STOCK MARKET

if a company whose shares are traded on a stock market goes private, the owners buy the shares back from other shareholders in order to take control of the company themselves:

The Canadian utility company is well on its way to going private through a $22 billion management-led buyout.

ECONOMICS, GOVERNMENT

if an organization that is owned by the government goes private, it is sold to investors:

The satellite company was bought by its current owners for $3.1 billion in cash after going private and shedding its intergovernmental ownership.

to pay for your own medical treatment, rather than using treatment provided by the National Health Service:

People who cannot find an NHS dentist are already going private and insurers are keen to fill in gaps in their finances.

in private

MEETINGS

something that is done in private is done secretly and only involves a small group of people:

Negotiations are underway in private.

in private hands

ECONOMICS, GOVERNMENT

owned or controlled by one person or company, rather than by a government:

The transaction would put control of a key service in private hands.

owned by one person, rather than by an organization:

Two original copies of the manuscript are still in private hands.

take sth private

FINANCE, STOCK MARKET

to take control of a company or organization whose shares are traded on a stock market by buying the shares back from other shareholders:

Two of the world's richest men combined to take the upmarket hotel chain private in a $1.95bn deal.

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

Examples of private

private

Officially, ecclesiastical matrimony had thus replaced secular, private, and clandestine marriage.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Moreover, in a liberal democracy with a well-developed private sector, would-be hegemonic efforts to extend the party's influence through society can have unexpected results.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The data were collected at home parties, lunchtime breaks, and other private venues.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The potential for such liability claims will provide private parties with an added incentive to bring cases.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

First, private parties often lack the individual incentive to initiate litigation before national courts.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The remaining fourteen had moved into private enterprise, mostly with firms specializing in the field of their former ministries.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The remaining 43 % are in four-room and five-room public housing and with only 6 % in private housing.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These gains in private technical efficiency raise social costs as the technological resource stock externality is exacerbated.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

For example, when control took place, the private sector could not use its trading capacity fully.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

First, how do the opportunities for private gain differ in different electoral systems?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The full utilization of existing private production facilities, with some renovation, was assumed to be sufficient at this stage.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Thus, we compare the cost of the protection of trees between private and community plantations.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Issues of independence and transparency may be more complicated for private payer technology coverage decisions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They favored the creation of strong central bureaucratic authorities to ensure that the new agglomerations of private power operated ultimately in the public interest.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The issue had to be transformed into a "visible" subject, and private views into debatable opinions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all examples of private

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of private?

Translations of private

in Chinese (Traditional)

私人的, 私人（用）的, 私有的…

in Chinese (Simplified)

私人的, 私人（用）的, 私有的…

in Spanish

privado, particular, soldado raso…

in Portuguese

privado, particular, íntimo…

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खाजगी, खर्च किंवा नियंत्रण सरकार करत नसलेले असे काही…

個人の, 私有の, 私立の…

hususi, özel, kişisel…

privé/-ée, confidentiel/-elle, privatif/-ive…

privat, particular, soldat ras…

privé, particulier, soldaat zonder rang…

ஒரு நபர் அல்லது குழுவிற்கு மட்டுமே மற்றும் அனைவருக்கும் அல்ல, தனிப்பட்ட நடவடிக்கைகள் தனிப்பட்ட விஷயங்கள் அல்லது உறவுகளை உள்ளடக்கியது மற்றும் அவை உங்கள் வேலையுடன் தொடர்புடையவை அல்ல., தனிப்பட்ட எண்ணங்கள் மற்றும் கருத்துக்கள் இரகசியமானவை மற்றும் மற்றவர்களுடன் விவாதிக்கப்படவில்லை.…

(केवल एक व्यक्ति या समूह के लिए) व्यक्तिगत, निजी, (मामलों या संबंधों का) निजी…

ખાનગી, અંગત, ખાનગી જગ્યા…

privat, menig…

privat, personlig, menig…

peribadi, biasa, prebet…

privat, Privat-…, gewöhnlicher Soldat…