from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adj. Secluded from the sight, presence, or intrusion of others: a private hideaway.
- adj. Designed or intended for one's exclusive use: a private room.
- adj. Of or confined to the individual; personal: a private joke; private opinions.
- adj. Undertaken on an individual basis: private studies; private research.
- adj. Of, relating to, or receiving special hospital services and privileges: a private patient.
- adj. Not available for public use, control, or participation: a private club; a private party.
- adj. Belonging to a particular person or persons, as opposed to the public or the government: private property.
- adj. Of, relating to, or derived from nongovernment sources: private funding.
- adj. Conducted and supported primarily by individuals or groups not affiliated with governmental agencies or corporations: a private college; a private sanatorium.
- adj. Enrolled in or attending a private school: a private student.
- adj. Not holding an official or public position: a private citizen.
- adj. Not for public knowledge or disclosure; secret: private papers; a private communication.
- adj. Not appropriate for use or display in public; intimate: private behavior; a private tragedy.
- adj. Placing a high value on personal privacy: a private person.
- n. A noncommissioned rank in the U.S. Army or Marine Corps that is below private first class.
- n. One who holds this rank or a similar rank in a military organization.
- n. Private parts. Often used with the.
- idiom go private To take a publicly owned company into private ownership, as by a leveraged buyout.
- idiom in private Not in public; secretly or confidentially.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. Belonging to, concerning, or accessible only to an individual person or a specific group.
- adj. Not in governmental office or employment.
- adj. Not publicly known; not open; secret.
- adj. Protected from view or disturbance by others; secluded.
- adj. Intended only for the use of an individual, group, or organization.
- adj. Not accessible by the public.
- adj. Not traded by the public.
- adj. Secretive; reserved.
- adj. Not shared with another patient.
- adj. this sense?) Pertaining to the genitalia.
- n. The lowest rank of the army.
- n. A soldier of the rank of private.
- n. A euphemistic term for the genitals.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adj. 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
- adj. Sequestered from company or observation; appropriated to an individual; secret; secluded; lonely; solitary
- adj. Not invested with, or engaged in, public office or employment
- adj. Not publicly known; not open; secret
- adj. Having secret or private knowledge; privy.
- n. A secret message; a personal unofficial communication.
- n. Personal interest; particular business.
- n. Privacy; retirement.
- n. One not invested with a public office.
- n. A common soldier; a soldier below the grade of a noncommissioned officer.
- n. The private parts; the genitals.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Peculiar to, belonging to, or concerning an individual only; respecting particular individuals; personal.
- Kept or removed from public view; not known; not open; not accessible to people in general; secret.
- Not holding public office or employment; not having a public or official character: as, a private citizen; private life; private schools.
- Noting a common soldier, or one of the ordinary rank and file.
- Being in privacy; retired from company; secluded.
- Privy; informed of what is not generally known.
- Keeping privacy or confidence; secretive; reticent.
- Intimate; confidential.
- Particular; individual; special: opposed to general.
- n. A person not in public life or office.
- n. A common soldier; one of the rank and file of an army.
- n. A secret message; private intimation.
- n. Personal interest or use; particular business.
- n. Privacy; retirement.
- n. plural The private parts of the body.
- n. In some colleges, a private admonition.
- To deprive.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adj. concerning one person exclusively
- adj. not expressed
- adj. concerning things deeply private and personal
- adj. confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy
- n. an enlisted man of the lowest rank in the Army or Marines
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Re Shaun's comment on 4/1/05 see above that includes this sentence: "As I said before, my issue isn't with the sexual orientation, it's with people who lack the discretion to keep their private lives *private*"; and this one: "Were I to go into work Monday morning and regale my coworkers with tales of my sexual exploits, I'd likely lose my job."
But, by one who speaks without notes is generally understood one who has only memorised his leading ideas, and it is always a judicious practice for a beginner to rehearse his leading topics and their amplifications in private, _that he may test his memory_, and then _become familiar_ with a procedure _in private_ in order to be sure to be _perfect in it before the public_.
Instead of _taking_ "private property," Congress, by abolishing slavery, would say "_private property_ shall not be taken; and those who have been robbed of it already, shall be kept out of it no longer; and every man's right to his own body shall be protected."
Instead of _taking_ "private property," Congress, by abolishing slavery, would say "_private property_ shall not _be_ taken; and those who have been robbed of it already, shall be kept out of it no longer; and since every man's right to his own body is _paramount_, he shall be protected in it."
But, after all, one must earn enough to pay for the garret; and I confess that to grow old as a private tutoror a private anythingis almost as chilling to the imagination as a second secretaryship at Bucharest.
But he may rest assured that I will not betray any of his private communications to me; I will not follow his example by basely exposing a _private letter; _ even should he again hire James
II. i.223 (370,7) [My lips are no common, though several they be] _Several_, is an inclosed field of a private proprietor, so Maria says, _her lips_ are _private property_.
If you are content to allow the public access to some parts of your private life or are content to talk about some parts of it (when you're happy about something, or when it's going to benefit you), you cannot then deny the public access to your private life of refuse to talk about it * on the grounds that it's private*!
[keywords] = @keywords, [private] = @private, [category] = @category, [gallerymember] =