not public
1 [usuallybeforenoun] belonging to or for the use of a particular person or group; not for public use:
The sign said, 'Private property. Keep out.' * Those are my father's private papers. * The hotel has 110 bedrooms, all with private bathrooms. * The villa has its own private beach.
OPPPUBLIC
conversation / meeting
2 intended for or involving a particular person or group of people, not for people in general or for others to know about:
a private conversation / letter * They were sharing a private joke. * Senior defence officials held private talks.
feelings / information
3 that you do not want other people to know about;
SYNSECRET:
her private thoughts and feelings
not owned / run by state
4 [usuallybeforenoun] owned or managed by an individual person or an independent company rather than by the state:
private banks / companies / schools * a programme to return many of the state companies to private ownership
OPPPUBLIC
5 [onlybeforenoun] working or acting for yourself rather than for the state or for a group or company, especially in health or education:
private doctors * to offer advice to private investors * (BrE) If I can afford it, I think I'll go private (= pay for medical care rather than use the government service).
not work
6 [usuallybeforenoun] not connected with your work or official position:
a politician's private life
quiet
7 where you are not likely to be disturbed; quiet:
Let's go somewhere a bit more private.
OPPPUBLIC
person
8 [usuallybeforenoun] not wanting to share thoughts and feelings with other people:
He's a very private person.
lessons
9 [usuallybeforenoun] given by a teacher, etc. to one person or a small group of people for payment:
She gives private English lessons at weekends. * private students
money
10 that you receive from property or other sources but do not have to earn:
He has a private income.
privately adverb:
Can we speak privately? * In public he supported the official policy, but privately he was sure it would fail. * a privately owned company * Their children were educated privately. * She smiled, but privately she was furious.
Part of speech: noun
1 [C] (abbreviation Pte) (BrE) a soldier of the lowest rank in the army:
Private (John) Smith
2 (privates) [pl.] (informal) = PRIVATEPARTS
IDIOMS
in private with nobody else present:
Is there somewhere we can discuss this in private?
compareINPUBLIC
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for private is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is private a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, private is tagged as adjective.
Does private appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — private appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
