Private

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: pri=vate

CIDE DICTIONARY

Private, a. [L. privatus apart from the state, peculiar to an individual, private, properly p. p. of privare to bereave, deprive, originally, to separate, fr. privus single, private, perhaps originally, put forward (hence, alone, single) and akin to prae before. See Prior, a., and cf. Deprive, Privy, a.].

•  Belonging to, or concerning, an individual person, company, or interest; peculiar to one's self; unconnected with others; personal; one's own; not public; not general; separate; as, a man's private opinion; private property; a private purse; private expenses or interests; a private secretary.  [1913 Webster]
•  Sequestered from company or observation; appropriated to an individual; secret; secluded; lonely; solitary; as, a private room or apartment; private prayer.  [1913 Webster]

  "Reason . . . then retires
  Into her private cell when nature rests."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not invested with, or engaged in, public office or employment; as, a private citizen; private life.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "A private person may arrest a felon."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not publicly known; not open; secret; as, a private negotiation; a private understanding.  [1913 Webster]
•  Having secret or private knowledge; privy.  [1913 Webster]

Private act or Private statute, a statute exclusively for the settlement of private and personal interests, of which courts do not take judicial notice; -- opposed to a general law, which operates on the whole community. In the United States Congress, similar private acts are referred to as private law and a general law as a public law. -- Private nuisance wrong. See Nuisance. -- Private soldier. See Private, n., 5. -- Private way, a right of private passage over another man's ground; also, a road on private land, contrasted with public road, which is on a public right of way.

Private, n. 

•  A secret message; a personal unofficial communication.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  Personal interest; particular business.  [1913 Webster]

  "Nor must I be unmindful of my private."  [1913 Webster]
•  Privacy; retirement.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  One not invested with a public office.  [1913 Webster]

  "What have kings, that privates have not too?"  [1913 Webster]
•  A common soldier; a soldier below the grade of a noncommissioned officer.  Macaulay.  [1913 Webster]
•  The private parts; the genitals.  [1913 Webster]

In private, secretly; not openly or publicly.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Private, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 belonging to an individual; one's own; personal (private property).
2 confidential; not to be disclosed to others (private talks).
3 kept or removed from public knowledge or observation.
4 a not open to the public. b for an individual's exclusive use (private room).
5 (of a place) secluded; affording privacy.
6 (of a person) not holding public office or an official position.
7 (of education or medical treatment) conducted outside the State system, at the individual's expense.
--n.
1 a private soldier.
2 (in pl.) colloq. the genitals.

Idiom

in private privately; in private company or life. private bill a parliamentary bill affecting an individual or corporation only. private company Brit. a company with restricted membership and no issue of shares. private detective a detective engaged privately, outside an official police force. private enterprise
1 a business or businesses not under State control.
2 individual initiative. private eye colloq. a private detective. private first class US a soldier ranking above an ordinary private but below officers. private hotel a hotel not obliged to take all comers. private house the dwelling-house of a private person, as distinct from a shop, office, or public building. private law a law relating to individual persons and private property. private life life as a private person, not as an official, public performer, etc. private means income from investments etc., apart from earned income. private member a member of a legislative body not holding a government office. private member's bill a bill introduced by a private member, not part of government legislation. private parts the genitals. private patient Brit. a patient treated by a doctor other than under the National Health Service. private practice Brit. medical practice that is not part of the National Health Service. private press a printing establishment operated by a private person or group not primarily for profit and usu. on a small scale.
private school
1 Brit. a school supported wholly by the payment of fees.
2 US a school not supported mainly by the State. private secretary a secretary dealing with the personal and confidential concerns of a businessman or businesswoman. private sector the part of the economy free of direct State control. private soldier an ordinary soldier other than the officers (and US other than recruits). private view the viewing of an exhibition (esp. of paintings) before it is open to the public.
private war
1 a feud between persons or families disregarding the law of murder etc.
2 hostilities against members of another State without the sanction of one's own government. private wrong an offence against an individual but not against society as a whole.

Derivative

privately adv.

Etymology

ME f. L privatus, orig. past part. of privare deprive

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Private

n. A military gentleman with a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack and an impediment in his hope.

THESAURUS

Private

Tommy, Tommy Atkins, absolute, anonymous, antisocial, behind closed doors, buck private, certain, clandestine, closet, common soldier, concealed, concrete, confidential, confidentially, covert, covertly, deep-seated, defined, definite, detailed, determinate, different, discreet, distinct, distinguished, enlisted man, esoteric, especial, exceptional, exclusive, express, extraordinary, fixed, furtively, genitalia, genitals, grunt, hermitical, hidden, hush-hush, hushed, idiosyncratic, immanent, implanted, implicit, in camera, in private, in secret, inaccessible, inalienable, incognito, individual, indwelling, infantryman, infixed, ingrained, inherent, inmost, inner, innermost, inside, interior, internal, intimate, intrinsic, inward, inwrought, irreducible, isolated, minute, noncommissioned officer, not for publication, noteworthy, off the record, on the sly, own, particular, peculiar, personal, personally, precise, private first class, privately, privileged, privy, reclusive, reserved, resident, respective, restricted, restrictive, reticent, retired, retiring, secluded, seclusive, secret, secretively, secretly, sequestered, several, sex organs, singular, sneakily, sneaking, sneakingly, solipsistic, solitary, special, specific, sub rosa, subjective, surreptitious, surreptitiously, top secret, unalienable, unchallengeable, uncommunicative, undisclosed, unofficial, unquestionable, unsociable, unsocial, withdrawn

ROGET THESAURUS

Private

Speciality

N speciality, specialite, individuality, individuity, particularity, peculiarity, idiocrasy, personality, characteristic, mannerism, idiosyncrasy, specificness, singularity, reading, version, lection, state, trait, distinctive feature, technicality, differentia, particulars, details, items, counts, minutiae, I, self, I myself, myself, himself, herself, itself, special, particular, individual, specific, proper, personal, original, private, respective, definite, determinate, especial, certain, esoteric, endemic, partial, party, peculiar, appropriate, several, characteristic, diagnostic, exclusive, singular, idiomatic, idiotypical, typical, this, that, yon, yonder, specially, especially, particularly, in particular, in propria persona, ad hominem, for my part, each, apiece, one by one, one at a time, severally, respectively, each to each, seriatim, in detail, in great detail, in excruciating detail, in mind-numbing detail, bit by bit, pro hac vice, pro re nata, namely, that is to say, for example, id est, exemplia gratia, e, g, i, e, videlicet, viz, to wit, le style est l'homme meme.

Combatant

N combatant, disputant, controversialist, polemic, litigant, belligerent, competitor, rival, corrival, fighter, assailant, champion, Paladin, mosstrooper, swashbuckler fire eater, duelist, bully, bludgeon man, rough, prize fighter, pugilist, boxer, bruiser, the fancy, gladiator, athlete, wrestler, fighting-cock, game-cock, warrior, soldier, fighting man, Amazon, man at arms, armigerent, campaigner, veteran, swordsman, sabreur, redcoat, military man, Rajput, armed force, troops, soldiery, military forces, sabaoth, the army, standing army, regulars, the line, troops of the line, militia, yeomanry, volunteers, trainband, fencible, auxiliary, bersagliere, brave, garde-nationale, garde-royale, minuteman, auxiliary forces, reserve forces, reserves, posse comitatus, national guard, gendarme, beefeater, guards, guardsman, yeomen of the guard, life guards, household troops, janissary, myrmidon, Mama, Mameluke, spahee, spahi, Cossack, Croat, Pandoz, irregular, guerilla, partisan, condottiere, franctireur, tirailleur, bashi-bazouk, vietminh, vietcong, shining path, contras, huk, hukbalahap, mercenary, soldier of fortune, hired gun, gunfighter, gunslinger, bushwhacker, free lance, companion, Hessian, hit man torpedo, soldier, levy, draught, Landwehr, Landsturm, conscript, recruit, cadet, raw levies, infantry, infantryman, private, private soldier, foot soldier, Tommy Atkins, rank and file, peon, trooper, sepoy, legionnaire, legionary, cannon fodder, food for powder, officer, subaltern, ensign, standard bearer, spearman, pikeman, spear bearer, halberdier, lancer, musketeer, carabineer, rifleman, jager, sharpshooter, yager, skirmisher, grenadier, fusileer, archer, bowman, horse and foot, horse soldier, cavalry, horse, artillery, horse artillery, light horse, voltigeur, uhlan, mounted rifles, dragoon, hussar, light dragoon, heavy dragoon, heavy, cuirassier, Foot Guards, Horse Guards, gunner, cannoneer, bombardier, artilleryman, matross, sapper, sapper and miner, engineer, light infantry, rifles, chasseur, zouave, military train, coolie, army, corps d'armee, host, division, battalia, column, wing, detachment, garrison, flying column, brigade, regiment, corps, battalion, sotnia, squadron, company, platoon, battery, subdivision, section, squad, piquet, picket, guard, rank, file, legion, phalanx, cohort, cloud of skirmishers, war horse, charger, destrier, marine, man-of-war's man, navy, wooden walls, naval forces, fleet, flotilla, armada, squadron, man-of-war, destroyer, submarine, minesweeper, torpedo-boat, torpedo-destroyer, patrol torpedo boat, PT boat, torpedo- catcher, war castle, H, M, S, battleship, battle wagon, dreadnought, line of battle ship, ship of the line, aircraft carrier, carrier, flattop, helicopter carrier, missile platform, missile boat, ironclad, turret ship, ram, monitor, floating battery, first- rate, frigate, sloop of war, corvette, gunboat, bomb vessel, flagship, guard ship, cruiser, armored cruiser, protected cruiser, privateer, tender, store ship, troop ship, transport, catamaran, merchant marine.

Exclusion

N exclusion, nonadmission, omission, exception, rejection, repudiation, exile, noninclusion, preclusion, prohibition, separation, segregation, seposition, elimination, expulsion, cofferdam, excluding, exclusive, excluded, unrecounted, not included in, inadmissible, exclusive of, barring, except, with the exception of, save, bating, exclusion, seclusion, exclusion, seclusion, privacy, retirement, reclusion, recess, snugness, delitescence, rustication, rus in urbe, solitude, solitariness, isolation, loneliness, estrangement from the world, voluntary exile, aloofness, cell, hermitage, convent, sanctum sanctorum, depopulation, desertion, desolation, wilderness, howling wilderness, rotten borough, Old Sarum, exclusion, excommunication, banishment, exile, ostracism, proscription, cut, cut direct, dead cut, inhospitality, inhospitableness, dissociability, domesticity, Darby and Joan, recluse, hermit, eremite, cenobite, anchoret, anchorite, Simon Stylites, troglodyte, Timon of Athens, Santon, solitaire, ruralist, disciple of Zimmermann, closet cynic, Diogenes, outcast, Pariah, castaway, pilgarlic, wastrel, foundling, wilding, secluded, sequestered, retired, delitescent, private, bye, out of the world, out of the way, the world forgetting by the world forgot, snug, domestic, stay-at-home, unsociable, unsocial, dissocial, inhospitable, cynical, inconversable, unclubbable, sauvage, troglodytic, solitary, lonely, lonesome, isolated, single, estranged, unfrequented, uninhabitable, uninhabited, tenantless, abandoned, deserted, deserted in one's utmost need, unfriended, kithless, friendless, homeless, lorn, forlorn, desolate, unvisited, unintroduced, uninvited, unwelcome, under a cloud, left to shift for oneself, derelict, outcast, banished, noli me tangere, among them but not of them, and homeless near a thousand homes I stood, far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, makes a solitude and calls it peace, magna civitas magna solitudo, never less alone than when alone, O sacred solitude! divine retreat!.

Concealment

N concealment, hiding, occultation, mystification, seal of secrecy, screen, disguise, masquerade, masked battery, hiding place, cryptography, steganography, freemasonry, stealth, stealthiness, sneakiness, obreption, slyness, latitancy, latitation, seclusion, privacy, secrecy, secretness, incognita, reticence, reserve, mental reserve, reservation, arriere pensee, suppression, evasion, white lie, misprision, silence, suppression of truth, underhand dealing, closeness, secretiveness, mystery, latency, snake in the grass, secret, stowaway, concealed, hidden, secret, recondite, mystic, cabalistic, occult, dark, cryptic, cryptical, private, privy, in petto, auricular, clandestine, close, inviolate, tortuous, behind a screen, undercover, under an eclipse, in ambush, in hiding, in disguise, in a cloud, in a fog, in a mist, in a haze, in a dark corner, in the shade, in the dark, clouded, wrapped in clouds, wrapt in clouds, invisible, buried, underground, perdu, secluded, undisclosed &c, untold, covert, untraceable, mysterious, irrevealable, inviolable, confidential, esoteric, not to be spoken of, unmentionable, obreptitious, furtive, stealthy, feline, skulking, surreptitious, underhand, hole and corner, sly, secretive, evasive, reserved, reticent, uncommunicative, buttoned up, close, close as wax, taciturn, secretly, in secret, in private, in one's sleeve, in holes and corners, in the dark, januis clausis, with closed doors, a huis clos, hugger mugger, a la derobee, under the cloak of, under the rose, under the table, sub rosa, en tapinois, in the background, aside, on the sly, with bated breath, sotto voce, in a whisper, without beat of drum, a la sourdine, behind the veil, beyond mortal ken, beyond the grave, beyond the veil, hid from mortal vision, into the eternal secret, into the realms supersensible, into the supreme mystery, in confidence, in strict confidence, in strictest confidence, confidentially, between ourselves, between you and me, between you and me and the bedpost, entre nous, inter nos, under the seal of secrecy, a couvert, underhand, by stealth, like a thief in the night, stealthily, behind the scenes, behind the curtain, behind one's back, behind a screen, incognito, in camera, it must go no further, it will go no further, don't tell a soul, tell it not in Gath, nobody the wiser, alitur vitium vivitque tegendo, let it be tenable in your silence still, background information, deep background information, deep background, background session, backgrounder, not for attribution.