The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

elationship should be kept private for the time being. What I
am about to tell you is strictly private. 2 privileged,
restrictive, restricted, exclusive, special, reserved, personal,
inaccessible, non-public; hidden, secluded, concealed, secret,
sneaking: The house is situated on a private road. I had a
private suspicion that they would cancel their trip. 3 personal,
individual, own, intimate, particular: My private affairs are
none of your business. 4 solitary, seclusive, reclusive,
withdrawn, retiring, reticent, ungregarious, non-gregarious,
unsocial, unsociable, antisocial, reserved, uncommunicative,
hermitic(al), hermit-like, eremitic(al); sequestered, secluded,
retired: You have to bear in mind that Edmund is a very private
person.
--n. 5 private soldier, infantryman, foot-soldier, US enlisted
man, Colloq Brit Tommy, Tommy Atkins, squaddie, US GI (Joe),
Slang US grunt: Before cashiering him, they reduced him from
colonel to private. 6 in private. in secret, secretly,
privately, sub rosa, personally, confidentially, behind closed
doors, in camera, off the record, US on the q.t. or Q.T.;
clandestinely, secretively, sneakily, sneakingly,
surreptitiously, furtively, covertly, on the sly: Family
matters should be discussed only in private. They met in private
with agents of the rebel forces. 7 private parts or privates.
genitals, sexual or sex organs, genitalia. The natives wore
loincloths to cover their private parts.
privation n. need, neediness, want, deprivation, hardship, indigence,
necessity, poverty, penury, destitution, strait(s), pauperism,
beggary; distress, misery: The lower classes in Victorian
England suffered terrible privation.
privilege n. benefit, advantage, right, prerogative, concession,
allowance, indulgence, immunity, exemption, dispensation,
freedom, liberty, franchise, permission, consent, leave,
authorization, sanction, authority, licence, carte blanche: The
children were given the privilege of choosing where the family
should go on holiday.
privileged
adj. 1 favoured, advantaged, indulged, entitled, ‚lite,
special, honoured: John was one of the privileged few to be
told her private telephone number. 2 protected, exempt(ed),