private
private is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 10 senses, and appears in Roget's Thesaurus (1911) with 40 related terms. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.
Definitions
- 1.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.
- 2.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.
- 3.Not publicly known; not open; secret; as, a private negotiation; a private understanding.
- 4.Having secret or private knowledge; privy. [Obs.] Private act or 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. -- Private nuisance or wrong. See Nuisance. -- Private soldier. See Private, n., 5. -- Private way, a right of private passage over another man's ground. Kent.
- 5.A secret message; a personal unofficial communication. [Obs.] Shak.
- 6.Personal interest; particular business.[Obs.] Nor must I be unmindful of my private. B. Jonson.
- 7.Privacy; retirement. [Archaic] "Go off; I discard you; let me enjoy my private." Shak.
- 8.One not invested with a public office. [Archaic] What have kings, that privates have not too Shak.
- 9.(Mil.) A common soldier; a soldier below the grade of a noncommissioned officer. Macaulay.
- 10.pl. The private parts; the genitals. In private, secretly; not openly or publicly.
Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
Synonyms
Related terms (Roget's 1911)
- accost
- address
- allocution
- alloquy
- and
- apostrophe
- apostrophize
- appeal
- aside
- audience
- background
- ball
- bashful
- bashfulness
- beat
- blush
- blushing
- bushel
- button
- call
- candle
- cast
- ceremony
- constrained
- constraint
- countenance
- coy
- demure
- demureness
- dialogism
- dialogue
- diffidence
- diffident
- disposition
- distance
- draw
- drum
- ear
- eye
- face
Source: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
Related questions
Reverse-dictionary questions
Definition-first questions whose answer is private.
- What is 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 called?
- What is not publicly known; not open; secret; as, a private negotiation; a private understanding called?
- What is a secret message; a personal unofficial communication. [Obs.] Shak called?
- What is personal interest; particular business.[Obs.] Nor must I be unmindful of my private. B. Jonson called?
- What is privacy; retirement. [Archaic] "Go off; I discard you; let me enjoy my private." Shak called?
- What is one not invested with a public office. [Archaic] What have kings, that privates have not too Shak called?
- What is a common soldier; a soldier below the grade of a noncommissioned officer. Macaulay called?
- What is pl. The private parts; the genitals. In private, secretly; not openly or publicly called?
Sources
- Definitions: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
- Synonyms & antonyms: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
- Canonical URL: https://worddirectanswers.com/word/private
- Steward: Jason Burns