privatelypri‧vate‧ly /ˈpraɪvətli/ ●○○ adverb 
I must talk to you privately.2if you feel or think something privately, you do not tell anyone about it: Laura praised the pictures, though she privately thought they were rather ordinary.[sentence adverb] Privately, Harriet had to agree.3not publicly or as part of your work[sentence adverb] Privately, senior officials agreed that not many people had voted.4especially British English using or involving private rather than government institutions: Both children are privately educated. a privately owned company
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- privately owned land
- Could I speak to you privately?
- Many villagers privately feared the worst.
- Just before the First World War over 90 percent of households rented privately.
- Only around 15 out of 200 work privately at the moment.
- Popular, privately owned century-old hotel, awash with oriental rugs, rich mahogany, walnut panelling and other Victoriana.
- Some deacons and elders have privately told their ministers that they plan to resign in protest if it passes.
- That pessimism is privately echoed inside the administration.
- The privately owned land is a steep, rugged parcel of 171 acres near Highway 92.
Longman Language Activatordone secretly
done without anyone else knowing: · Many civilians were secretly killed and buried by soldiers.· My parents didn't approve of our relationship, and we had to meet in secret.· Operating in secrecy, intelligence agencies are often seen as mysterious and unaccountable for their actions.
if you do something on the quiet , you do it secretly, especially because you think that people will disapprove of what you are doing: · His doctor has told him he mustn't drink, but he still has the occasional brandy on the quiet.· He used to flirt with the two girls, on the quiet, when his wife wasn't looking.
if important official meetings, discussions, or decisions take place behind closed doors , they take place secretly without the public being allowed to see or hear them: · The board members met behind closed doors to discuss the deal.· Although America is a democracy, a lot of key decisions are made behind closed doors by unelected advisers.
if you do something in private or privately , you do it where other people cannot see or hear you: · Can I have a word with you in private?· Although party officials give the President their public support, many are saying in private that he may have to resign.· Generations of Native American children in state schools were punished for speaking their own language, even privately.
if you do something or say something unpleasant about someone behind their back , you do or say it without telling them: · I thought you were my friend. Now I find you've been talking about me behind my back.· People laughed at him behind his back.· He agrees with his boss to his face, but then criticizes him behind his back.go behind somebody's back: · I'm not happy about you going behind my back like that. You should have told me.
if you do something surreptitiously , you do it while other people are not looking because you do not want them to see you doing it: · She glanced surreptitiously up at the clock.· I found myself studying his face surreptitiously.· Greenpeace claim that toxic waste has been dumped surreptitiously on west coast beaches.
if you do something furtively , you do it in a way which makes you look as if you are keeping something secret, especially something wrong that you have done: · She looked around furtively to make sure no one was watching.· The older boys hovered furtively outside the school gates, clutching thinly rolled cigarettes.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES a privately-held company
a privately-held company British English (=belonging to the government or a private organization) a privately owned company
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE a privately owned company· Rules were relaxed to allow the first privately owned locomotives unlimited access to the national rail network.· The dead stock was usually sold in one or other of the privately owned auction marts.· Fujisankei, itself privately owned and independent, seems the ideal partner.· We have also been influenced by representations about the position of privately owned companies held on discretionary trusts.· It will in part become local, privately owned and controlled consultants.· The news media, themselves privately owned and controlled, convey an image of society which support dominant class interests.· The new vehicles built as replacements during the 1980s were generally of higher capacity, privately owned and fitted with air brakes.· It was an interview broadcast by a privately owned company, said to be not unfriendly to the Conservatives.
· Those in public and privately rented housing do not obtain the same sense of personal identity.· Conversely, privately rented dwellings had fallen in proportion from 44.6 percent at the former date to 16 percent in 1975.· In fact, only about half of young higher education students live in privately rented accommodation.· They remain very vulnerable in privately rented accommodation as they can often be ignorant of their rights.· She has two children aged four and two years, and lives in a privately rented unfurnished flat.· For many in local authority or privately rented accommodation, the sense of frustration and powerlessness can be overwhelming.· A third of local authority dwellings lack any central heating, as does 64% of unfurnished privately rented accommodation.
VERB· A few businessmen admit privately to admiring his honesty, if not always his fervour.· But both sides privately admit that older voters will be a major target and states with many retirees will be major battlefields.· Party candidates privately admit that regular meetings could have jeopardised Labour's chances.
· When this school closed, he was educated privately at home.· He was educated privately and at Rossall, and went on to study architecture under a tutor at Cambridge.· He was educated privately in London, and as a young man studied art in Paris.· He was educated privately at academies in Margate.· She was privately educated, then went to Edinburgh University and passed part of the preliminary examination in medicine.· She was educated privately at Lissadell Court, the family estate in county Sligo, Ireland.· Jabelman was privately educated, and had nurtured his talent as a painter at art school.· More than two-thirds were privately educated and 400 went to Eton.
· In Washington, senior officials privately expressed wariness.· Indeed, Humphrey had privately expressed grave reservations about the war, which Johnson had ignored.
· In addition to public funding, much health care is financed privately by both companies and individuals.· If more were financed privately then taxation could be reduced and incentives increased accordingly.· Headed by Jack Kemp, this largely Republican commission was privately financed.· We have also been in negotiation to privately finance a port facility in joint venture with Central Government and the Local Authority.· The channel tunnel is entirely privately financed.
· He also asked for a voluntary moratorium on embryo research that is privately funded.
· S., most timber is grown on privately held land and is sold at auction.· Most recently, he was chief executive officer of Cibus Pharmaceutical Inc., a privately held drugdelivery company.· Y., it remains privately held.· Pursue is a privately held energy company.· P., his privately held company, of $ 2 billion.· Barneys does not disclose financial information because it is privately held.· The privately held company, founded in 1989, is one of the fastest-growing technology startups.
· Moakley met privately with Castro for 90 minutes Wednesday night before a buffet reception in which Castro mingled with the delegation.· Congressional leaders Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott are meeting privately with him.· Gephardt spent the weekend in Los Angeles meeting privately with union leaders.· Chernomyrdin will meet privately with Clinton on Saturday.· He also met privately with supporters at the home of Enron chief Ken Lay to plot future fund-raising efforts.· After ethics committee members question the two sides, they will meet privately to decide on a punishment recommendation.· He and the first lady then met privately with individual family members.
· The minimum for Professors is £29,949, with each individual's remuneration being privately negotiated with the university authorities.· Meanwhile, despite the presence of Alan, Rich Brooks is still trying to negotiate privately with Jody.· Airlines usually negotiate privately with manufacturers, playing one off against another, of course.· The repurchases will continue to be made on the New York Stock Exchange or in privately negotiated transactions, it said.
· Capital is privately owned by a minority, the capitalist class.· The villas themselves looked better than before, deserted except for the few that were privately owned and still habitable.· Although most farmland is privately owned the landscape is publicly consumed.· S.-led international space station, as well as Department of Defense cargo and privately owned communications and Earth-observing satellites.· As often as not, land reforms consist of turning large privately owned farms into state-or communally owned cooperatives.· The district covers more than 7 million acres of publicly and privately owned land.
· In contrast the great majority of nursing homes, 83 percent, were privately run.· Fertility clinics and sperm banks in the United States often are privately run and are subject to few government restrictions.· The majority of nursing homes are run privately.· Others are privately run for the state.· Standards vary enormously in privately run old people's homes and nursing homes.· It leads to the stimulation of a privately run black economy as its crucial lubricant. 5.· Of 99 universities serving a population of 36.9m, 48 are privately run.· If the usual winter epidemic of flu causes overcrowding, arrangements have been made to treat patients in privately run hospitals.
· Far from it, what they say for public consumption appears to be at odds with what they are saying privately.· I can just imagine what he was saying privately about Johnson en route.· Although Pentagon spokesmen said they saw no need for further strikes soon, officials said privately that more were on the way.· City officials refuse to talk about the case, but detectives say privately the trail has gone cold.· Company executives say privately, however, that they would rather the firm remain independent.· The Zapatistas' public support has dwindled in recent months, but officials say privately that Marcos remains a wild card.· Many say privately that for whatever reason, too many black parents fail to work the system.
· Instead she said something pompous about having information and wishing to speak privately, before backing out to wait her turn.· They often spoke privately and, Jim thought, casually.· When Tom and Dolly returned inside the cottage all chance of speaking privately to Carrie disappeared.
· But to her disappointment there was no chance to talk privately with Luke himself.· A day or two later, Mrs Maylie talked privately to her son.
· Whatever Laura privately thought of these pictures, revolutionary in their way, she insisted they be used.· He believed that his survey would be of use, but privately thought of it as his escape.· Sam Fong said he understood none of thern; he thought privately that if they could be deported, so could he.· Willis deeply respected Richard, whom he privately thought of and sometimes called aloud, the Skipper.
WORD FAMILYnounprivacyprivateprivatizationadjectiveprivateverbprivatizeadverbprivately
1with no one else present SYN in private: I must talk to you privately.2if you feel or think something privately, you do not tell anyone about it: Laura praised the pictures, though she privately thought they were rather ordinary.[sentence adverb] Privately, Harriet had to agree.3not publicly or as part of your work[sentence adverb] Privately, senior officials agreed that not many people had voted.4especially British English using or involving private rather than government institutions: Both children are privately educated. a privately owned company