private
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɹaɪ.vɪt/
ipa: /ˈpɹaɪ.vət/
ipa: [ˈpʰɹaɪ̯vɪt]
ipa: [ˈpʰɹaɪ̯vɪt]
ipa: [ˈpɹəjvət]
ipa: [ˈpʰɹɑɪ̯vɪt]
ipa: [ˈpʰɹɑjvət]
ipa: [ˈpʰɹaɪ̯vət̞]
note: Dublin
ipa: [ˈpʰɹəɪ̯və(ʔ)]
note: Dublin
ipa: [ˈpʰɾəɪ̯və(ʔ)]
note: Dublin
ipa: [ˈpʰɹo̞ɪ̯və(ʔ)]
note: Dublin
ipa: [ˈpʰɾo̞ɪ̯və(ʔ)]
note: Indic
ipa: /praj.veʈ/
rhymes: -aɪvɪt
rhymes: -aɪvət
Forms: form: more private
form: most private
Etymology: From Middle English privat(e) (“individual, exclusive, private”), from Latin prīvātus (“bereaved, deprived, set apart from, release”), perfect passive participle of prīvō (“to bereave, deprive, release”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more), from prīvus (“private, one's own, proper”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per; compare prime, prior, pristine. Doublet of privy.
Senses: examples: text: In some countries, healthcare is provided by both the government and private companies.
text: Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16.[…]There are no inspectors, no exams until the age of 18, no school league tables, no private tuition industry, no school uniforms.
ref: 2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland spreads word on schools”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 30:
glosses: Belonging or pertaining to an individual person, group of people, or entity that is not the state.
examples: text: This book is her private journal.
text: It was a very private thing, they felt, and not to be tossed indiscriminately about.
ref: 1968, Carl Ruhen, The Key Club, Sydney: Scripts, page 78:
text: Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
ref: 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
glosses: Relating to an individual or group of individuals outside of their official roles; often, sensitive or personal.
examples: text: The identity of the beneficiaries of the trust is private.
text: The key point in the original article was that the relationship with the woman, named “Colette,” came to light because Aupetit had sent a private letter meant for her to his secretary instead.
ref: 2021 December 12, John L. Allen Jr., “In Vatican’s clumsy stab at censorship, the massage becomes the message”, in Crux:
glosses: Not publicly known or divulged; secret, confidential; (of a message) intended only for a specific person or group.
examples: text: Can we go somewhere more private?
text: I invited him to take breakfast with me; he accepted the invitation, and told me he would tell me about himself when we were in a more private place.
ref: 1887, George H. Devol, Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi, page 58:
glosses: Protected from view or disturbance by others; secluded; not publicly accessible.
examples: text: Military secrets should not be entrusted to unreliable private individuals.
glosses: Not in governmental office or employment.
examples: text: He is a very private person.
glosses: Secretive; reserved.
examples: text: private equity
text: Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.
ref: 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
topics: business
finance
glosses: Not traded by the public.
glosses: Of a room in a medical facility, not shared with another patient.
glosses: Financially reliant on fees rather than government funding.
raw_tags: of schools
antonyms: public
published
qualifier: object-oriented programming
glosses: Accessible only to the class itself or instances of it, and not to other classes or even subclasses.
topics: human-sciences
philosophy
sciences
glosses: Of the mind or language, not in principle experienceable, knowable, or understandable by others.
Hyponyms: package-private