private

Meanings

Adjective

  • Belonging to, concerning, or accessible only to an individual person or a specific group.
  • Not accessible by the public.
  • Not in governmental office or employment.
  • Not publicly known; not open; secret.
  • Protected from view or disturbance by others; secluded.
  • Not traded by the public.
  • Secretive; reserved.
  • Not shared with another patient.
  • Accessible only to the class itself or instances of it, and not to other classes or even subclasses.

Noun

  • A soldier of the lowest rank in the army.
  • A doctor working in privately rather than publicly funded health care.
  • The genitals.
  • A secret message; a personal unofficial communication.
  • Personal interest; particular business.
  • Privacy; retirement.
  • One not invested with a public office.
  • A private lesson.

Related

Similar words

Opposite words

Narrower meaning words

  • package-private

Origin

  • From Latin prīvātus ("bereaved, deprived, set apart from"), perfect passive participle of prīvō, from prīvus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per; compare prime, prior, pristine.

Modern English dictionary

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