Meaning

8 senses
  1. A soldier of the lowest rank in the army.

    Gemeiner, Schütze, Kanonier

    рядово́йrjadovój

    рядови́йrjadovýj, рядови́кrjadovýk

    an enlisted man of the lowest rank in the Army or Marines

  2. A doctor working in privately rather than publicly funded health care.

  3. (euphemistic, in the plural)The genitals.

  4. (usually plural)A private lesson.

    If you want to learn ballet, consider taking privates.

  5. (obsolete)A secret message; a personal unofficial communication.

  6. (obsolete)Personal interest; particular business.

  7. (obsolete)Privacy; retirement.

  8. (obsolete)One not invested with a public office.

Examples

717 sentences
  1. The number of private colleges has increased.

    Кількість приватних коледжів виросла. — deniko

  2. You and I should talk in private.

    Ми з тобою повинні поговорити наодинці. — Ahha

  3. I'd like to talk with you in private.

    Я хотів би поговорити з тобою наодинці. — deniko

    ruЯ бы хотел поговорить с Вами наедине. — sigavax

    deIch würde gern mit dir unter vier Augen reden. — Sudajaengi

  4. I'd like to speak with Tom in private.

    Я хотів би поговорити з Томом наодинці. — deniko

    ruЯ хотел бы поговорить с Томом наедине. — marafon

    deIch möchte mit Tom unter vier Augen sprechen. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

  5. I wish to speak to Tom in private.

    Я хочу поговорити з Томом наодинці. — deniko

    ruЯ хочу поговорить с Томом наедине. — afyodor

    deIch will mit Tom unter vier Augen sprechen. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
soldier:
Русский
By meaning 1
soldier:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
soldier:

Origin

From Middle English privat(e) (“individual, exclusive, private”), from Latin prīvātus (“be

From Middle English privat(e) (“individual, exclusive, private”), from Latin prīvātus (“bereaved, deprived, set apart from, release”), perfect passive participle of prīvō (“to bereave, deprive, release”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more), from prīvus (“private, one's own, proper”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per; compare prime, prior, pristine. Doublet of privy.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: privates
Singularprivate
Pluralprivates

regular

Synonyms

4 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • an enlisted man of the lowest rank in the Army or Marines:buck privatecommon soldier

Collocations

12 patterns
  • a private detective
  • private detective
  • hired a private
  • is a private
  • a private investigator
  • private investigator
  • a private school
  • my private life
  • private life
  • private school
  • his private life
  • has a private

See also

neighbours in the dictionary

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

private — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto