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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
private
I.adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a personal/private diary
▪ She later agreed to the publication of parts of her personal diary.
a personal/private fortune
▪ She is one of the richest women in Britain, with an estimated personal fortune of £90 million.
a personal/private matter
▪ We never spoke about personal matters.
a personal/private nightmare (=a very bad situation that affects only one person)
▪ His personal nightmare began when he was arrested for murder.
a private beach (=owned by someone, so you need permission to use it)
▪ The hotel has its own private beach.
a private citizen (=an ordinary citizen without a public position)
▪ Laws exist to protect private citizens.
a private client (=a person rather than a business)
▪ There are more than 200 stockbroking firms eager to take on private clients.
a private clinic (=not paid for by the government)
▪ Fees at private clinics are usually very high.
a private collection (=belonging to a person rather than a museum, gallery etc)
▪ Many of the paintings are now in private collections.
a private company (=not owned by the government)
▪ There are many tiny private companies.
a private gallery (=owned by a private person)
▪ The portrait was to be sold to a private gallery in the United States.
a private house (=one owned by someone)
▪ It was a residential neighborhood of private houses.
a private individual (=a person, not a company or business)
▪ Few shares in the company are owned by private individuals.
a private lesson (=a lesson specially for one person rather than for a class)
▪ He gave private lessons in mathematics at the weekends.
a private plane
▪ He flew to Vegas in his private plane.
a private prosecution
▪ The victim's widow is considering a private prosecution.
a private school (also a public school British English) (= a school where students pay to study)
▪ He was educated at a private school.
a private/closed meeting (=that only a few people are allowed to go to)
▪ The senator attended a private meeting with the president.
a private/confidential chat
▪ Have a confidential chat with the school nurse.
a private/personal pension (=one that you arrange with a private pension company)
▪ The percentage of the workforce with a private pension has declined.
a quiet/private talk
▪ She asked if she could have a private talk.
an inside/a private joke (=that only a few people who are involved in something will understand)
▪ After I’d worked there a while, I started to understand some of the inside jokes.
personal/private mail (=for one person to read and nobody else)
▪ He accused her of reading his private mail.
private detective
private donations (=given by individual people)
▪ Other funds are coming from private donations.
private education (=that people have to pay for)
▪ I don't agree with the principle of private education.
private education
private enterprise
private eye
private income
private investigator
private investment (=investment by private individuals)
▪ Public expenditure in declining areas will attract future private investment.
private jet
▪ He owns a private jet.
private law
private limited company
private medicine
private member's bill
private member
private operator
▪ a private operator running regular passenger services
private parts
private patient
private practice
▪ Richard set up in private practice.
private property
▪ The land on the other side of the gate is private property.
private school
private secretary
▪ a parliamentary private secretary
private sector
▪ pay increases in the private sector
private soldier
private transport (=a vehicle that you own and drive)
▪ 77 percent of respondents in the survey had regular access to private transport.
private vendetta
▪ The two sides have been engaged in a bitter private vendetta.
private view
public/private/personal morality
▪ the decline in standards of personal morality
▪ The authorities are protectors of public morality.
public/private/state ownership
▪ The company was returned to private ownership in mid-1987.
sb’s home/private address
▪ What’s your home address?
sb’s private affairs (=things that are personal and not for other people to know about)
▪ He never discussed his private affairs in public.
the private sector (=businesses that the government does not control)
▪ Generally speaking, employees in the private sector are well rewarded.
the private sphere
▪ After the war, women refused to return quietly to the private sphere.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
bathroom
▪ All nine bedrooms have private bathrooms.
▪ All the apartments and studios have private bathroom and kitchen facilities and a balcony.
▪ All bedrooms have a private bathroom and balcony.
▪ The bedrooms are comfortable and all have private bathroom, radio and telephone.
▪ All the apartments have a separate bedroom, a private bathroom, cooking facilities, lounge and a terrace.
▪ The apartments are comfortable and spacious with kitchenette, private bathroom and balcony and sleep 2, 3 or 4.
bill
▪ No mention of private Bill procedure would be complete without mentioning the Dartford warbler.
▪ It is always endangered and turns up whenever we discuss a private Bill.
▪ They should not have to rely upon the private Bill procedure, because the issue is too important.
▪ It is high time that the private Bill procedure was reformed.
▪ Many points made during the passage of the previous, private Bill require to be considered.
▪ I have been unable to find anyone who wishes to praise the private Bill procedure; it is an anachronism.
business
▪ She's hoping that private businesses will contribute to the upkeep.
▪ By law, the airwaves belong to the public, not to private business owners.
▪ The Chairman of Ways and Means has named opposed private business for consideration at seven o'clock.
▪ There was no clear demarcation between work and play or public and private business.
▪ Clearly we have intruded upon some private business.
▪ Another 10 percent grabbed up jobs in private business as salaried lawyers, or drifted into management.
▪ Legislation was passed on private business transactions and shareholding companies, and also amending the law on military service.
▪ He was also reportedly considering several offers from private businesses.
car
▪ A transport policy which advocates private cars is not a policy which protects the environment.
▪ There was a number-27I-in the rear side window; a private car service.
▪ People stopped private cars and put the dead and injured in their boots.
▪ Given that pollution levels relate to fuel consumption, private cars and taxis are also the greatest polluters.
▪ Once the private car and Tokimo were put solely at the disposition of Amy, Amelia, and Muriel.
▪ The hotel has its own large private car park.
▪ Would have made matchsticks of the private car.
citizen
▪ That's something that ought to be taken care of by private citizens.
▪ Liem had previously visited Pyongyang in 1977 as a private citizen.
▪ Unfortunately, the social class of the private citizens could not be determined.
▪ Shootings and other racially motivated violence perpetrated by private citizens continued to the end of the Carter years.
▪ The publication of a book by a private citizen led to the breaking-off of diplomatic relations.
▪ Now the obstacles seem even greater for Dole, the private citizen.
▪ Indeed, it is often suggested that a major problem with the procedure is its lack of accessibility to the private citizen.
▪ Laney said reports from Pyongyang indicate that private citizens are now engaged in black-market trading of a wide variety of goods.
collection
▪ Seventy-nine works are included, some rarely seen outside private collections.
▪ It was sort of a personal thing, a private collection.
▪ It entered a private collection but was ordered to be returned to the Nationalgalerie by the Soviet military administration in 1949.
▪ Many of the works are from private collections and have not previously been exhibited.
▪ The private collection will be given to the Ashmolean when the exhibition closes in August.
▪ Works by René Magritte are consequently to be seen in museums and private collections all round the world.
▪ We have one of the most extensive and comprehensive private collections of cook-books in the North; and her library keeps growing.
company
▪ The source of Mr Mukhametshin's wealth is a private company called, unsurprisingly, Anis.
▪ In a private company, the market value of the stock is determined by an outside valuation performed yearly.
▪ By a government licence under the Act, Mercury Communications, a private company, was authorized to establish a communications system.
▪ Then they brought in a private company to improve their gift shops, and gift sales increased by 50 percent.
▪ Of this, £70,000 came from private companies.
▪ The new commission would distribute power to the municipalities and it would also regulate the private companies.
▪ For example it might be his private company.
▪ With private companies, Datastream has estimated the value of the shareholdings in line with prevailing stock market values.
conversation
▪ May I ask the House not to indulge in private conversations.
▪ They moved away to have a more private conversation, from which I gathered problems existed.
▪ The telephone was just as it should be, with no bugging device to turn his private conversations into public knowledge.
▪ And there were endless meetings and private conversations and arcane machinations, many never recorded.
▪ Clinton went on to quote it again during the State of the Union and in other public remarks or private conversations.
▪ The hubbub was so intense that it would be impossible to hold any private conversation.
▪ I have had several private conversations with Steve about this.
detective
▪ Edward is a private detective hired by an antiques dealer who asked Edward to list all of the valuables in the house.
▪ Michael is a private detective and an aspiring writer.
▪ Later, an appointment was arranged for a private detective to call at Montpelier Walk.
▪ He had never been inside a police station, had never met a private detective, had never spoken to a criminal.
▪ Well, engage a private detective.
▪ The police made a few routine inquiries, came up with nothing, and then suggested that she hire a private detective.
▪ But her lovelorn millionaire husband, Bill, had spent more than Pounds 50,000 on private detectives to track her down.
▪ The private detective who, not so incidentally, taught Patrick everything he knows.
education
▪ Private medicine turned out to be one of these issues, and private education another.
▪ They said they hope the publicity will lead to scholarship money for a private education for Miranda.
▪ These schools now provided a free alternative to expensive private education - so that the number of middle-class children in them rose.
▪ In due course I shall return to my private education on the London trading floor.
▪ At present rates, an average private education will cost you about £50,000 by the end.
▪ A private education hardly comes cheap: students have to pay up to $ 15,000.
enterprise
▪ The development was originally envisaged as a private enterprise initiative.
▪ You hear the same sort of thing from people who worked with Bush in private enterprise.
▪ What models in addition to private enterprise are there for Community Economic Development? 7.
▪ After graduation, Daley had his last experience with private enterprise.
▪ Even more alluringly, the entire process could be handed over to private enterprise.
▪ Its faith in private enterprise was nearly as absolute as its earlier faith that settlement would make the climate wetter.
▪ The determination to use private enterprises as key actors was later complemented by stronger regulation.
▪ In a slip of time, the mantle of achievement passed from private enterprise to public works.
facility
▪ All four Karena hotels offer traditional rooms with private facilities, television, telephone, radio and a hospitality tray.
▪ Single room with private facilities £3.50.
▪ These include flights, hotel with private facilities, breakfast, taxes and entrance to the fair.
▪ All rooms will have private facilities.
▪ All the rooms at the Yahsi Beach are of a good size and have private facilities and balconies.
▪ The apartments sleep 2-4 and have private facilities, kitchenette and balcony.
▪ All bedrooms are of a high standard offering private facilities, satellite colour television, in-house movies and hospitality tray.
firm
▪ Both types of superior have measures of the organization's overall performance - profits in private firms, popularity in governments.
▪ As private firms, his companies report only to Companies House and Mr Branson himself.
▪ And here I am trying to start up a private firm with one other black lawyer.
▪ They're protesting at the government's proposals to allow private firms to tender for prison work.
▪ It shows that in most cases, private firms deliver services more economically than public organizations.
▪ Local private firms had built up a skilled work force that eventually drew in foreign multinationals on terms acceptable to the government.
▪ Even in day care, private firms try to restrict the competition.
health
▪ Bupa has about 60 percent of the private health insurance market.
▪ Objective: a totally private health market.
▪ We will abolish tax relief for private health insurance, whilst protecting the rights of existing policy-holders.
▪ That includes fraud against private health plans and against government programs such as Medicare.
▪ Because neither life insurance nor private health plans normally cover you against the financial consequences of a seriously disabling accident.
▪ The system serves people with severe and persistent mental illnesses who lack private health insurance.
▪ Other fixes are more complex and include changing how Medicare pays doctors and hospitals, monitors spending and subsidizes private health insurers.
home
▪ Serious allegations have been made about the running of some private homes.
Home care is also provided by private home health agencies, hospitals and public health departments.
▪ A study by Harriet and Sarah Harman, for example, documents appalling and degrading treatment of elderly people in private homes.
▪ They had private homes or apartments, country estates, special restaurants and shops.
▪ It is a white cottage-style residence, built as a private home in 1820.
▪ A sophisticated technology brought running water into private homes, public bathhouses and imperial palaces.
▪ There are 82 council houses and 120 private homes.
▪ As you would expect from a former private home, the bedrooms vary both in size and decor.
hospital
▪ Gilfoyle, 31-year-old auxiliary nurse at a private hospital, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his eight-month pregnant wife, Paula.
▪ This is a private hospital, not a state institution, and your sister committed you with-out any stipulations as to time.
▪ And four-fifths of all treatment in private hospitals is paid for by insurance.
▪ If she undergoes surgery, it will take place in a private hospital and will be paid for by Zapatista supporters.
▪ The laboratories carried out all work for general practitioners, National Health Service, and private hospitals in the area.
▪ There were at least two private hospitals closer, but they did not welcome blacks in their emergency room.
▪ Construction of private hospitals was boosted by financial incentives during the period of economic growth in the 1970s.
▪ The average costs of treating patients at private hospitals are less than those in public hospitals.
house
▪ About a third to a half the usable space in any private house is taken up by special rooms devoted to sleeping.
▪ Co., and visit owners of private houses, castles and gardens.
▪ Runs a treatment centre in a large private house near the south coast in Kent.
▪ The approach came after a reception in a large private house in Belgravia.
▪ The old village school, which closed in 1968, is now a private house and schoolchildren go by bus to Howden.
▪ He remembers when schools were schools were closed for fear of catastrophic bombing raids in wartime Edinburgh and classes were spread among private houses.
▪ They were painted on the walls of many private houses whether the occupants wanted them there or not.
▪ Within a 22-mile radius there are several National Trust properties including: Castle Drogo, a splendid private house.
individual
▪ Clive's estimate was that the Company and various private individuals made £3m. out of the change of rulers.
▪ There were a disturbing number of private individuals who called in to say they hoped he would not be a candidate.
▪ They were private individuals or partnerships, paid by the state to provide a universal service free at the point of use.
▪ They sell to private individuals, families and riding stables, he said.
▪ It was too expensive for most private individuals there to send telegrams; the network was used almost exclusively by the authorities.
▪ But at the same time, bank lending to private individuals, and credit card use, has increased.
▪ The accused may be prosecuted under Criminal Law whereas a private individual may be sued under Civil Law.
▪ Prosecutions brought by determined private individuals may present greater problems.
industry
▪ Observers suggested that the government's involvement followed a lack of interest from private industry.
▪ What they are eventually going to do is fire these people and have private industry hire them at lower pay.
▪ Most of the firms in private industry to which monopolies and mergers legislation is relevant are in fact oligopolists.
▪ Shares in the company had rallied after the government pledged to sell it to private industry before the end of October.
▪ Managers in public industries are often paid quite differently from those in private industry.
▪ Being a private industry employment interviewer is being a salesperson.
▪ It was generally believed that this would increase their efficiency in line with private industry.
▪ Greater participation by private industry in prevention and treatment programs.
investigator
▪ The Twiggs hired a private investigator to find their real daughter.
▪ Her family hired private investigators to find their daughter.
▪ Others use private investigators when employees have been threatened or workers have complained about on-the-job harassment.
investment
▪ Although there are occasional highly publicised instances of expropriation ... foreign private investment is growing rapidly.
▪ Meanwhile, private investment will remain strong, propelled by a 14 % increase in corporate profits in 1995.
▪ We shall pursue the privatisation programme, and encourage private investment, both domestic and foreign.
▪ The key to meeting this challenge was to stimulate private investment in the city.
▪ The success of such strategies is therefore usually expressed in terms of the ratio between public and private investment.
▪ An attempt to observe whether or not public investment leverages private investment has therefore been inconclusive.
▪ They suggested a public investment programme which could be planned ahead to counteract the fall in private investment during a slump.
▪ But long-term private investment in the production of high-quality tradable goods and services is essential for long-term success.
investor
▪ At the private investor level, the use of offshore centres is almost limitless.
▪ In addition to the inherited Banrural loans still to be repaid, new debt was encouraged by the state and private investors.
▪ Even private investors of modest means can use offshore centres for tax referral.
▪ The rest goes to private investors.
▪ All this will effect the private investor in two ways.
▪ By precisely how much we shall see when we come to look at the attempts to sell them to private investors.
▪ But private investors reacted quickly by buying equities in the small hours of yesterday morning.
▪ Furthermore, private investors can not trade shares on terms even approaching those available to fund managers.
jet
▪ He is also pledging his private jet and everything else his family owns.
▪ You needed the private jets in Washington.
▪ How can a private jet be cheaper than a train?
▪ McCain has made four campaign trips in Paxson's private jet in the past few months.
▪ Immediately after the gig Jon Bon Jovi flew back to London on the private jet he arrived in just seven hours earlier.
▪ And happiness is ... a romantic tycoon with his own private jet.
▪ He flies in a private jet from concert to concert.
land
▪ Other companies in sectors such as oil and communications must also have way-leaves for work they want to carry out on private land.
▪ Even Aristotle complained that communal property always looked worse than private lands.
▪ Hunt stewards are trying to force the saboteurs off private land on to a public footbath.
▪ The proposed forest-saving initiative is likely to include the following provisions: Ban clear-cutting on private land.
▪ None of this applies to private land, because anyone is free to seek permission from any landowner.
▪ There is no large-scale effort to stamp out the fires because, in most cases, they are burning on private land.
▪ Then again, the pillbox was on private land so maybe that hadn't been a problem.
▪ I do agree with Mr. Findlay that the public should be prepared to pay for access to private land.
law
▪ The essence of a private law employment relationship is a mutual obligation to engage in an economic exchange of labour in return for remuneration.
▪ There is no private law firm where the defeated candidates can retire.
▪ The first, the Digest, was the classical Roman private law of the jurists.
▪ Rather we should begin by asking why we have a distinction between public and private law.
▪ The question of whether, as a matter of private law, individual solicitors were entitled to a pay-out, was irrelevant.
▪ That composite duty is either a private law duty or a public law duty.
▪ Public law can, of course, be contrasted with private law.
▪ Three examples will illustrate the importance of deciding whether a particular activity ought to be regulated by public law or private law.
life
▪ If Max knew about Modigliani's private life then all Montparnasse would soon be seething with the story.
▪ Individuals were encouraged to relate politics to every aspect of their public and private lives.
▪ The effects of alcohol misuse spill over from private life into the workplace, causing inefficiency and accidents as well as absenteeism.
▪ Where I sense more intrusion into my private life?
▪ One has no private life when you take to the boards.
▪ Any relevant details from her private life.
▪ It was as well that she did because she had forfeited most of her private life for the sake of her chosen career.
▪ Every member of staff has a private life which should be respected?
matter
▪ He was less inclined to be so, it seemed, about private matters.
▪ That is strictly a private matter between a priest and a sinner.
▪ Officials there are believed to be dealing with it as a private matter.
▪ Child-rearing is considered a private matter, and there is no intervention unless a child is abused or neglected.
▪ Boy sensed that this was a private matter, something to think about but not talk about.
▪ Some organizations consider their employment policies to be a private matter of contract between the company and its employees.
▪ On the one hand, bringing up children is seen as a purely private matter.
▪ Abortion was a private matter between them and their daughters in Seven Sisters schools.
member
▪ Occasionally governments assist private members with their Bills, particularly by allowing extra parliamentary time.
▪ But this is not the main point: more important would be the effect on private members.
▪ A moment's reflection will show that it would make private members more independent.
operator
▪ Will the investment in new wagons be justified by private operators or leasing companies given the uncertainty of the market?
▪ Get private operators on the railway and everything will work just fine.
▪ The brief experience of Stagecoach, the only private operator running regular passenger services, has been mixed.
▪ Nearly all Britain's hazardous waste is handled by private operators.
▪ But private operators can turn profits only if prices rise radically and rapidly.
▪ One of them, set up by six private operators, runs 80 cinemas that meet international standards.
▪ Fifteen states have passed laws enabling private operators to run roads and railways: the state of Washington did so last month.
▪ The state expected to raise US$3,500 million from the divestment of its controlling shares to private operators.
ownership
▪ In most developing countries, private ownership is already the rule.
▪ The market-based economies and private ownership in Western democracies make an essential difference in the scope and application of the centralization concepts.
▪ The main characteristics of capitalism are private ownership of capital and freedom of enterprise.
▪ He also proposed a referendum on private ownership of land.
▪ And yet private ownership is basic to freedom.
▪ The second step in recreating a market economy is to restore private ownership of capital.
▪ It is not enough simply to suggest justifications for the existence of private ownership.
pension
▪ How is the free-market economy to be reconciled with continued large-scale tax concessions for house mortgages and private pensions?
▪ President Clinton is also tinkering with private pension plans to finance his own social agenda.
▪ Their ambitions were to own their own homes and have private pensions.
▪ The Clinton administration also has been looting the $ 3. 5 trillion private pension system.
▪ Despite the spread of private pensions, 75 percent of pensioners lived on less than £3,500 a year.
▪ He is comparing the state pension in this country with the cumulative state and private pensions abroad.
▪ One in six own shares; most now have private pensions.
▪ We will protect private pensions, and increase the basic state pension, making it payable as of right without means testing.
practice
▪ Articles which are available in commerce or industry may well include a period in private practice.
▪ When he returned to private practice, he had taken in his son James as his partner.
▪ This latter point was supported by a small number of respondents from private practice.
▪ Among the other clients Ruff has represented in private practice are Sen.
▪ However, a private practice background, either during or after articles, is no bar to subsequent progress in local government.
▪ In addition, a small but growing number of music therapists work in private practice.
▪ So, as a lawyer in private practice seeking to win new business, what does this mean for you?
▪ In my view, the lawyers in private practice are, on the whole, bright and devious.
property
▪ The city is subsidizing private property managers to renovate and buy 200 city-owned apartment buildings.
▪ Runtal lived much of his life in labor camps on private property, but never in Agbayani Village.
▪ The town fields might well be private property and held by only half-a-dozen farmers.
▪ The setting could be a riverbank on private property.
▪ However I've been told there is no law of trespass as long as there is due consideration to private property.
▪ It starts in the Phoenix Mountains Preserve and runs into private property on the mountain that is about to be developed.
▪ The dig is on private property.
school
▪ An obvious example is education, where a child attends either a state school or a private school.
▪ Like tuition, teacher credentials and class size vary widely at private schools.
▪ In this very poor country, private school fees are beyond the means of much of the population.
▪ In other cases, schools escort students back and forth from their private schools to public classrooms.
▪ At ten she was awarded a choral scholarship to a private school in London.
▪ Some are run by private schools or firms, on contract with school districts.
▪ After an education in private schools, he became a laboratory assistant at the Runcorn Soap &038; Alkali Co.
▪ Alistair had graduated private school at seventeen, not brilliantly, but not badly either.
secretary
▪ Nominally he merely continued as parliamentary private secretary to Law at the Treasury.
▪ Lorna ... Al Moore's girl, Brimmer's most trusted and very private secretary.
▪ With her were only her private secretary and the ever-present detective.
▪ He sent his private secretary down the corridor to see Sir Norman Brook to ask if they could be provided.
▪ In 1976 Cardinal Hume appointed the then Father Crowley as his private secretary.
▪ A sealed package had arrived from Mars: a copy of the files Karr had taken from Berdichev's private secretary.
▪ Berowne's private secretary spoke after the manner of his kind.
sector
▪ Overall, the value of new commissions in the private sector fell by 23 percent.
▪ The business population Businesses constitute the second major aggregate of the private sector.
▪ The focus of this will be the expansion of sales to the private sector and to selected overseas markets.
▪ The two now do for the private sector what they used to do for Communist Party leaders.
▪ We have two private sector initiatives.
▪ I would say that the private sector would be decisive in the long term.
▪ Washington could best use its limited resources in attempts to mobilize the private sector.
sphere
▪ Without undervaluing the private sphere itself, we can still say that this arrangement works to the advantage of men.
▪ They were seen instead as being naturally subject to their husbands and necessarily confined to the private sphere.
▪ Women used their supposedly greater spirituality as a further justification for transcending the confines of the private sphere.
▪ For most people, identity derives from the private sphere, not from work and public affairs.
▪ The private sphere becomes the natural home of modern man.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
for general/public/private etc consumption
▪ But these things aren't for public consumption.
▪ Far from it, what they say for public consumption appears to be at odds with what they are saying privately.
▪ Most of its contents was judged too personal-and possibly too politically sensitive-for public consumption.
▪ This Government talks tough for public consumption but has no stomach for action.
▪ Those on the right endorse the first half of the argument but not the second, at least for public consumption.
▪ When the media found out, his private exercise of his personal beliefs became a subject for public consumption.
the private sector
Private sector housing is just too expensive for low-income families in the city at the moment.
▪ Increasingly, researchers are seeking funds from the private sector.
▪ The government is now turning to the private sector for alternative ways of dealing with the country's transportation problems.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
Private hospitals can afford to pay much higher salaries than state-run hospitals.
private property
▪ a private college
▪ After his death the author's family released many of his private papers.
▪ Brando is a private man who almost never gives interviews to the press.
▪ Brian had an irritating habit of saying, "It'll be fine!", whenever she mentioned any of her private fears.
▪ Clarence refused to comment on the state of his marriage, saying, it "is a private matter which we'd like to keep private.''
▪ Do you think the teaching in private schools is better than in state schools?
▪ Each guest has a private bathroom.
▪ Earlier the Dalai Lama had spent six days in England on a private visit.
▪ Guy had to obey his superiors, no matter what his private thoughts on the matter.
▪ He doesn't talk much about his family - he's a very private person.
▪ He keeps his private papers locked away in the top drawer of his desk.
▪ I've got something to tell you. Can we go somewhere private?
▪ Lou's a very private person - I don't know anything about her family.
▪ Susan is trying to balance her private life and her work.
▪ The book contains extracts from his diary and private letters.
▪ The garden's very private - it's not overlooked by anyone.
▪ The government plans to sell part of the railway network to private investors.
▪ The two leaders held private talks in June to try to resolve the dispute.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He was also reportedly considering several offers from private businesses.
▪ If she undergoes surgery, it will take place in a private hospital and will be paid for by Zapatista supporters.
▪ If the government sells bonds to pay for its spending, interest rates rise and the private sector is squeeze.
▪ It also had many of the features of a private club, operated and run for the benefit of its members.
▪ It can do this primarily by cutting its own expenditures and by raising taxes so as to curtail private spending.
▪ The figures that she gave referred to comparisons with the private sector, not the national health service.
▪ There are four bedrooms, all with en suite or private facilities and fine views.
▪ There are twin, double and single rooms available, all with private facilities and most with a balcony.
II.noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But unlike her workmates her privates were threatened in other quarters.
▪ The private was the nest of domestic virtues: the public was the arena of prostitution, of vice on the streets.
▪ The same Southern private wrote graphically of another problem he and his comrades had to contend with, that of body lice.
▪ The victim was a 21-year-old Army private.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Private

Private \Pri"vate\ (pr[imac]"v[asl]t), n.

  1. A secret message; a personal unofficial communication. [Obs.]
    --Shak.

  2. Personal interest; particular business.[Obs.]

    Nor must I be unmindful of my private.
    --B. Jonson.

  3. Privacy; retirement. [Archaic] ``Go off; I discard you; let me enjoy my private.''
    --Shak.

  4. One not invested with a public office. [Archaic]

    What have kings, that privates have not too?
    --Shak.

  5. (Mil.) A common soldier; a soldier below the grade of a noncommissioned officer.
    --Macaulay.

  6. pl. The private parts; the genitals.

    In private, secretly; not openly or publicly.

Private

Private \Pri"vate\ (?; 48), 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.]

  1. 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.

  2. Sequestered from company or observation; appropriated to an individual; secret; secluded; lonely; solitary; as, a private room or apartment; private prayer.

    Reason . . . then retires Into her private cell when nature rests.
    --Milton.

  3. Not invested with, or engaged in, public office or employment; as, a private citizen; private life.
    --Shak.

    A private person may arrest a felon.
    --Blackstone.

  4. Not publicly known; not open; secret; as, a private negotiation; a private understanding.

  5. Having secret or private knowledge; privy. [Obs.]

    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 or 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.
    --Kent.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
private

late 14c., "pertaining or belonging to oneself, not shared, individual; not open to the public;" of a religious rule, "not shared by Christians generally, distinctive; from Latin privatus "set apart, belonging to oneself (not to the state), peculiar, personal," used in contrast to publicus, communis; past participle of privare "to separate, deprive," from privus "one's own, individual," from PIE *prei-wo-, from PIE *prai-, *prei-, from root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per).\n

\nOld English in this sense had syndrig. Private grew popular 17c. as an alternative to common (adj.), which had overtones of condescension. Of persons, "not holding public office," recorded from early 15c. In private "privily" is from 1580s. Related: Privately. Private school is from 1650s. Private parts "the pudenda" is from 1785. Private enterprise first recorded 1797; private property by 1680s; private sector is from 1948. Private eye "private detective" is recorded from 1938, American English.

private

1590s, "private citizen," short for private person "individual not involved in government" (early 15c.), or from Latin privatus "man in private life," noun use of the adjective; 1781 in the military sense, short for Private soldier "one below the rank of a non-commissioned officer" (1570s), from private (adj.).

Wiktionary
private

a. Belonging to, concerning, or accessible only to an individual person or a specific group. n. 1 The lowest rank of the army. 2 A soldier of the rank of private. 3 (''in plural'' privates) A euphemistic term for the genitals. 4 (context obsolete English) A secret message; a personal unofficial communication. 5 (context obsolete English) Personal interest; particular business. 6 (context obsolete English) Privacy; retirement. 7 (context obsolete English) One not invested with a public office. 8 (context mostly plural English) A private lesson.

WordNet
private

n. an enlisted man of the lowest rank; "our prisoner was just a private and knew nothing of value" [syn: buck private, common soldier]

private
  1. adj. 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" [ant: public]

  2. concerning things deeply private and personal; "private correspondence"; "private family matters"

  3. concerning one person exclusively; "we all have individual cars"; "each room has a private bath" [syn: individual(a)]

  4. not expressed; "secret (or private) thoughts" [syn: secret]

Wikipedia
Private (rank)

A private is a soldier of the lowest military rank (equivalent to NATO Rank Grades OR-1 to OR-3 depending on the force served in).

In modern military parlance, 'private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.

Private (rocket)

Private was an experimental rocket developed by the California Institute of Technology on behalf of the United States Army. Tested in two different configurations, it provided the proof of concept that a fin-stabilised ballistic missile was technologically feasible, and led to the development of the Corporal ballistic missile.

Private (web series)

Private is an American Web series produced by Alloy Entertainment based on the novels of the same name by Kate Brian.

The series was announced in May 2009, beginning with a contest allowing female readers the chance to audition for the role of Kiran Hayes. It was also announced that the series would adapt the first four books via 20 episodes, each with a standard length of four to six minutes.

A DVD with episodes of the series was released by Newvideo.

Private

Private may refer to:

  • Private, a character from Madagascar
  • Private methods, a way of encapsulation in object-oriented programming
  • Private magazine, an adult publication from Private Media Group, a European distributor of adult entertainment
  • Private (band), a Denmark-based band
  • Private (film), a 2004 Italian film
  • Private (novel), a novel by James Patterson
  • Private (novel series), a young-adult book series launched in 2006
    • Private (web series), a web series based on the novel series
  • Private (rank), a military rank
  • Private (rocket), the first American multistage rocket

Privates redirects here and may refer to:

  • Privates (TV series), a 2013 BBC One TV series
  • A euphemism for the genitals or the sex organs of a man or woman
Private (film)

Private is a 2004 film directed by Saverio Costanzo. A debut film by the director, the film is a minimalist psychological drama about a Palestinian family of seven suddenly confronted with a volatile situation in their home that in many ways reflects the larger ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Israel.

Initially selected as the official entry from Italy for the foreign language film category at the 78th Academy Awards, Private was disqualified as its main spoken language is not in Italian (a rule that was changed, effective with the next year's Oscars, partly due to this film). The film has received the Golden Leopard (best film) award at the 57th Locarno International Film Festival.

Private (novel series)

Private is a series of young-adult novels by American author Kate Brian, beginning with 2006's inaugural entry of the same name. The books chronicle the rise of ambitious teenager Reed Brennan, the series' narrator, as she becomes a member of her new school's elite dorm—composed of a glamorous yet disparate group of teens known as the Billings Girls. As the series progresses, several matters surrounding mystery, morality, and romance arise.

Thematically, moral ambiguity is a prominent feature of Brian's work. Extreme cases of loyalty and antagonism are personified in characters such as Noelle Lange and Ivy Slade—to degrees that are sometimes questioned or denounced by the narrator. However, it is often only after the details of another character's background have been revealed that Brennan can understand what motivates them, which will occasionally leave her conflicted in her judgments. The series has companion works, set in the past and the future, which are dedicated to further exploring character. These novels include the Private prequel collection, which focuses on various figures, and the spin-off series Privilege, which follows the resourceful but disturbed Ariana Osgood.

To convey the story's tone, the series' art team was composed of select individuals with backgrounds in teenage popular culture and youth-oriented fashion. As a recurring visual theme, each cover from the central story depicts three young women on front, with a fourth featured a slight distance apart on the opposite side.

Debuts of Private novels have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list. The publisher has also released e-book editions of the series and its spin-off. As Simon & Schuster, the series' distributor, is owned by CBS Corporation (and thereby associated with CBS and the youth-oriented CW Television Network), fans of Private have campaigned for the series to be adapted into a television program. This has been noted by the author on a blog. In May 2009, a Web series based on the Private novels was announced.

Private (novel)

Private is the first book of the Jack Morgan series. This novel was written by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. The Private London series was spun off from the Jack Morgan series.

Private (song)

is a song by Japanese entertainer Ryōko Hirosue, written by Ringo Sheena. It was released as the B-side to her fourth single "Jeans" on October 7, 1998, and was the title track of her second studio album Private (1999). Hirosue performed it on her first live tour in February 1999. The Budokan performance on February 7, 1999 was released as a CD/DVD set called Hirosue Ryoko First Live: RH Debut Tour 1999 on May 26, 1999. "Private" was also featured on both of Hirosue's greatest hits albums: RH Singles &... (1999) and Hirosue Ryoko Perfect Collection (2002).

Private (band)

PRIVATE is a pop music group formed in 2006 by Danish producer/singer Thomas Troelsen, along with guitarist Asger Tarpgaard and vocalist Tanja Simonsen, and is currently a solo project by Troelsen. PRIVATE's debut album “My Secret Lover” was produced and recorded by Troelsen and mixed by Jason Boshoff ( Basement Jaxx). The first single, of the same title, achieved Gold sales in Denmark and reached #1 on the Danish singles, radio, and download charts. "My Secret Lover" was released in the UK on 17 January 2010 on Virgin Records with remixes by Diplo, Egyptian Lover, Spencer & Hill, and Rune RK.

PRIVATE's debut received attention from a number of influential blogs including Perezhilton.com, Arjanwrites.com and the UK's Popjustice, who called the single "completely hypnotic and brilliant." The band has also been featured in Dazed & Confused, NME, Attitude, The Guardian, and Monocle. On his blog, Diplo—who remixed "My Secret Lover"—called PRIVATE "the best current pop music group in the world."1

The Spencer & Hill remix of the track was featured on Friday Floor Fillers with Scott Mills on BBC's Radio 1. The track was also Record of the Week on Scott Mills' show on 7 December 2009 and Nick Grimshaw's show in September 2009.

In February 2010, Diplo's remix of "My Secret Lover" was featured in Prada's Spring/Summer 2010 Womenswear commercial.2

On September 3, 2012, PRIVATE released “Everywhere,” a single featuring O.T. Genasis on Universal Music Denmark. The release featured remixes by MSTRKRFT, Sun Airway, Its Overture, DJ Woody, Flemming Dalum, Shoe Scene Symphony, Aylen, and Kannamix. Perez Hilton premiered the release and it was further profiled by Popjustice, Arjan Writes, and Interview Magazine.

On April 12, 2013, PRIVATE released "Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be," a second single on Universal Music Denmark. The release was also profiled by Popjustice and Arjan writes, among others.

Usage examples of "private".

This accomplished woman gave her hand to Odenathus, who, from a private station, raised himself to the dominion of the East.

Jordan Mintz, general counsel Lea Fastow, assistant treasurer Michael Jakubik, vice president JimTimmins, director, private equity Tim Despain, vice president Bill Brown, vice president The Internal Accountants Richard Causey, chief accounting officer David Woytek, vice president, corporate auditing Rodney Faldyn, vice president, transaction accounting group Ryan Siurek, member, transaction accounting group In Risk Assessment Richard Buy, chief risk officer Vasant Shanbhogue, analyst Vince Kaminski, vice president of Rakesh Bharati, analyst research Kevin Kindall, analyst Stinson Gibner, analyst In Corporate Development J.

The half-dozen executives and accountants from Andersen and Enron laughed and joked as they played a round of golf on a private Arizona course.

And even the private schools, traditionally viewed with suspicious dislike by state education officials, were hit by surprise inspections so seldom that the very act of an accreditation team, showing up unannounced at one of them, was tantamount to an accusation of educational hanky-panky.

Kiint could always use the human affinity band, but Edenists had found it almost impossible to sense any form of private Kiint communication.

He was drawn into the conversational circle against his will, having stood close enough to Keith to look as if he was with him, and had to suffer the looks of the Commission Officers at his affrontery to poach on their private preserve.

Under the terms of the Mutual Use Treaty, which had been hammered out during that momentary thaw in relations between England and the Celtic Federation, every settler on Mars had received an Allotment of acreage for private terraforming.

The Pannonian army was at this time commanded by Septimius Severus, a native of Africa, who, in the gradual ascent of private honors, had concealed his daring ambition, which was never diverted from its steady course by the allurements of pleasure, the apprehension of danger, or the feelings of humanity.

For nearly a century, the shortage of legally dissectable bodies pitted the anatomist against the private citizen.

Her thoughts had already resubmerged her in private considerations, therefore did she see naught of the annoyance which surely flared within me.

In his speech he assigned the alteration of the currency as the chief cause of the calamity, since it operated injuriously on all classes except the fundholder and annuitant, and by its ruinous effects on private contracts, as well as public payments, was calculated to endanger all kinds of property.

The original act creating the Court of Claims provided for an analogous procedure with appeals to the Supreme Court after which judgments in favor of claimants were to be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury for payments out of the general appropriation for the payment of private claims.

I see more of Charlie than he sees of me, for I am now thoroughly dug in at my stable clinic, and from my private hideout and post of observation in the tower -- yes, there is even a neat little tower on this archidiaconal horse-palace, to echo the larger tower of the same design on Glebe House -- I see him swanning around looking at once medieval and thoroughly of the moment, a priest among his people.

This, naturally, is only a private case of the archival potential of the Net.

This had begun ostentatiously as private swimming lessons, all three males being good swimmers, but as the hours passed the two men and one boy arrived each at his own sandy hollow in the rocks to which trickles of women and girls continually passed.