privatize

verb

pri·​vat·​ize ˈprī-və-ˌtīz 

privatized; privatizing; privatizes

transitive verb

: to make private

especially : to change from public to private control or ownership

privatize an industry

The mayor's threat to privatize trash collection shook things up.

—Jeff Bailey

privatization

ˌprī-və-tə-ˈzā-shən 

noun

Examples of privatize in a Sentence

The city decided to privatize the municipal power company.

a proposal to privatize the health-care system

Recent Examples on the Web

Childers, an associate professor of history at Colorado State University, said his concern is that, since the late 1970s, conservative intellectuals have pushed to privatize the park even further. — Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 21 July 2026

Democratic lawmakers and the union representing TSA officers have raised concerns that expanding the program, called the Screening Partnership Program, amounts to privatizing a core government security function and could undermine TSA employees. — Arkansas Online, 19 July 2026

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the state privatized many of its enterprises by handing out shares to the people who worked in them. — Simon Shuster, The Atlantic, 17 July 2026

However, there is a push to privatize even more airport screening lines with the TSA Gold+ program. — Joey Skladany, Travel + Leisure, 15 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1948, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for privatize

• advertise
• aggrandize
• alibis
• alkalies
• alkalis
• amortize
• amplifies
• analyse
• analyze
• anywise
• authorize
• butterflies

Legal Definition

privatize

transitive verb

pri·​va·​tize ˈprī-və-ˌtīz 

privatized; privatizing

: to make private

especially : to change (as a business or industry) from public to private control or ownership

privatization

ˌprī-və-tə-ˈzā-shən, -ˌtī- 

noun