personal

/ˈpʌrs(ə)n(ə)l/

/ˈpʌsənəl/

Other forms: personals

When something's personal, it's all about you. A personal decision is one you make on your own and it’s probably about something that concerns you, too. Your personal possessions are things that belong to you.

No doubt you've noticed the word person, in personal. The word comes from the Latin personalis, "of a person." Personal can be your personal habits — how often your brush your teeth, whether you like broccoli — or your personal space, or a personal attack — mean-spirited criticism aimed at somebody in particular. The "Personals" section in your local newspaper is where people place ads hoping to find true love or with other personal messages.

Definitions of personal

1. adjective

   concerning or affecting a particular person or his or her private life and personality
   “a personal favor”

   “for your personal use”

   “personal papers”

   “I have something personal to tell you”

   “a personal God”

   “he has his personal bank account and she has hers”

   synonyms:

   ad hominem

   appealing to personal considerations (rather than to fact or reason)

   face-to-face

   in each other's presence

   individual, private

   concerning one person exclusively

   individualised, individualized, personalised, personalized

   made for or directed or adjusted to a particular individual

   in the flesh, in-person

   an appearance carried out personally in someone else's physical presence

   ain, own

   belonging to or on behalf of a specified person (especially yourself); preceded by a possessive

   personalized

   pointedly referring to or concerning a person's individual personality or intimate affairs especially offensively

   person-to-person

   involving direct communication or contact between persons or parties

   private

   concerning things deeply private and personal

   private

   confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy

   antonyms:

   impersonal

   not relating to or responsive to individual persons

   nonpersonal

   lacking personality
2. adjective

   particular to a given individual
   synonyms:

   subjective

   taking place within the mind and modified by individual bias
3. adjective

   of or arising from personality
   “personal magnetism”
4. adjective

   intimately concerning a person's body or physical being
   “personal hygiene”

   synonyms:

   physical

   involving the body as distinguished from the mind or spirit
5. noun

   a short newspaper article about a particular person or group
   type of:

   news article, news story, newspaper article

   an article reporting news
6. adjective

   indicating grammatical person
   “personal verb endings”