private
Other forms: privates
Something private is something you don't want to share; it's for your eyes only. Your diary entries and your bank account balance might both be kept private.
As a noun, the lowest enlisted rank is called private. You may enlist as a private but have plans to retire from the Army as a four-star general! Sometimes the adjective private is used as the opposite of public. If you own your own island, it's private property. Alcatraz Island, however, is public property and the site of a museum preserving its past life as a famous prison — former home to Al Capone.
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confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy“a private place”“private discussions”“private lessons”“a private club”“a private secretary”“private property”“the former President is now a private citizen”“public figures struggle to maintain a private life”synonyms:esotericconfined to and understandable by only an enlightened inner circlepersonalconcerning or affecting a particular person or his or her private life and personalityclannish, cliquish, clubby, elitist, snobbish, snobbytending to associate only with people of a similar background and not with those considered inferiorcloseconfined to specific personsclosed-doornot open to the publicconfidentialentrusted with private information and the confidence of anotherinsularsuggestive of the isolated life of an islandnonpublicnot invested with or related to prominent position or status etc.one-on-onedirectly between two individualssemiprivateconfined to a small number of hospital patientstoffee-nosedsnobbish; pretentiously superiorantonyms:publicnot private; open to or concerning the people as a wholeexotericsuitable for the general publicin the public eyeof great interest to the publicnationalowned or maintained for the public by the national governmentopenopen to or in view of allsemipublichaving some of the features of public institutionstate-supportedsupported and operated by the government of a state
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concerning one person exclusively“each room has a private bath”synonyms: individualpersonalconcerning or affecting a particular person or his or her private life and personality
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concerning things deeply private and personal“private correspondence”“private family matters”synonyms:personalconcerning or affecting a particular person or his or her private life and personality
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not expressed
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an enlisted soldier of the lowest rank in the Army or Marines“our prisoner was just a private and knew nothing of value”synonyms: buck private, common soldiertype of:enlisted mana male enlisted person in the armed forces
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Vocabulary lists containing private
This list focuses on entrepreneurship and small business management (Unit 2, Chapter 6). Here are links to all the chapters of Unit 2, Business Organization and Management: Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9 Here are links to all the units of the business textbook published by South-Western Cengage Learning: Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4
Edge: Level C, Volume 1, Unit 1, Cluster 2. Here are links to the other clusters within Unit 1: "The Moustache" and "Who We Really Are", "Two Kinds" and "Novel Musician", "Skins" and "Nicole"