private

adjective

ˈprī-vət How to pronounce private (audio)
Definition of privatenext
1
as in confidential
not known or meant to be known by the general populace that he is planning to retire is private information until he makes a public announcement

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in clandestine
undertaken or done so as to escape being observed or known by others a private investigation of the organization's activities

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in personal
of, relating to, or belonging to a single person club lockers in which private property may be stored

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of private To clamp down on future legal costs, the department last year brought back a former senior official, Arif Alikhan — at a monthly salary of $20,000, paid for by a private donation — to study how to reduce the number of costly lawsuits. — Sean Greene, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2026 Sharon Packer, a longtime nuclear engineer with Utah Shelter Systems, said her current slate includes an expansive, multimillion-dollar bunker for 400 employees and family members of a private company. — Megan Buerger, Washington Post, 9 Oct. 2026 The lower entry price put business jets within reach of a broader group of executives and entrepreneurs, while turning flying private from a capital acquisition into a service. — Robb Report, 9 Oct. 2026 The official list of nominees is private and not revealed until 50 years after the award for that year is given. — Christopher Tremoglie, The Washington Examiner, 9 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for private
Recent Examples of Synonyms for private
  1. confidential
  2. clandestine
  3. personal
  4. secret
  5. undercover
  6. personalized
  7. underground
  8. subjective
Adjective
  • Confidential sources Rahmer acknowledged in his testimony that there are limits to knowing who is a confidential informant or working for agencies outside the FBI.
    — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 10 Oct. 2026
  • His case was also shared with the local district attorney, who has the authority to prosecute misuse of confidential governmental data, but the district attorney declined to pursue criminal charges, the audit said.
    — Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of confidential
Adjective
  • Bridgers’ tour restricts phones, so the reader’s account had to stand in for the clandestine photo that might otherwise have accompanied the sighting.
    — Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The Soviet Union operated an extensive clandestine biological weapons program despite being a party to the Biological Weapons Convention.
    — Krutika Kuppalli, STAT, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of clandestine
Adjective
  • The lawsuits, in his eyes, are simply cases of personal misfortune and landlord greed.
    — Matthew Sedacca, Curbed, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Meta has pressed ahead with its own personal AI agent, launching its Muse agent in early September, modeled on the open-source AI agent OpenClaw.
    — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of personal
Adjective
  • If location isn’t all-important to you, you’ll still be taken in by the property’s palatial restaurant, secret garden above the bustling street, and relaxing pool—undoubtedly one of the longest in Lisbon.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Bridgers first shared the new material in May at a club in New Mexico, kicking off a series of phone-free, secret pop-up shows at smaller venues across the country that culminated with Madison Square Garden in New York on June 4.
    — Christine Werthman, Billboard, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of secret
Adjective
  • Some of us live in Chicago and are well aware of the lore of the Mirage Tavern, a real bar that undercover reporters operated in the 1970s to expose corruption in the city.
    — Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica, 5 Oct. 2026
  • Investigators also said Ellaboudy advised an undercover FBI confidential human source posing as a representative of a Houthi colonel.
    — Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of undercover
Adjective
  • For instance in June, Jo Malone London launched an AI Scent Scanner that translates the visual preferences people have expressed across their Pinterest boards into personalized Jo Malone London fragrance recommendations.
    — Noor Lobad, Footwear News, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Amazon has its own agentic shopping assistant, Alexa for Shopping , which offers personalized recommendations, product comparisons, and price histories, and can automate purchases through features such as Price Alerts and Auto-Buy.
    — Alexa LoMonaco, CNBC, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of personalized
Adjective
  • The dehumanization of Black people represented by the persistence of Confederate iconography in mainstream culture became an underground signifier of the precariousness of the freedoms enshrined by the 14th Amendment.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026
  • Much has been written about the sprawling compounds of tech titans like Mark Zuckerberg, whose 1,400-acre Kauai property includes plans for a 5,000-square-foot underground shelter.
    — Megan Buerger, Washington Post, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of underground
Adjective
  • Structured demand required manual interpretation of requirements, often influenced by subjective bias.
    — Adam Feiner, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026
  • The executive pointed to the trade for Freddy Peralta as one in which subjective ideas, including Peralta’s clubhouse energy, pushed the Mets to value the pitcher more than objective measures.
    — Tim Britton, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2026
Definition of subjective

Phrases Containing private

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privacy
private
private detective
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Cite this Entry

“Private.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/private. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

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