adj. 1 (top) secret, confidential, undisclosed, hidden, clandestine, concealed, covert, surreptitious, off the record, not for publication, unofficial, Colloq hush-hush I think our relationship should be kept private for the time being What I am about to tell you is strictly private. 2 privileged,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individual, own, intimate, particular My private affairs are none of your business 4 solitary, seclusive, reclusive, withdrawn, retiring, reticent, ungregarious, non-gregarious, unsocial, unsociable, antisocial, reserved, uncommunicative, hermitic(al), hermit-like, eremitic(al);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.