- [countable] (abbreviation Pte)a soldier of the lowest rank in the army
- Private (John) Smith
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- privates[plural] (informal) private parts (= a polite way of referring to the sexual organs without saying their names)
Word Originlate Middle English (originally denoting a person not acting in an official capacity): from Latin privatus ‘withdrawn from public life’, a use of the past participle of privare ‘bereave, deprive’, from privus ‘single, individual’.
Idioms
See private in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee private in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishin private
- with nobody else present
- Is there somewhere we can discuss this in private?
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private