A personal opinion, quality, or thing belongs or relates to one particular person rather than to otherpeople.
He learned this lesson the hard way–from his own personal experience.
That's my personal opinion.
...books, furniture, and other personal belongings.
The President arrived, followed by his personal bodyguard.
...an estimated personal fortune of almost seventy million dollars.
Synonyms: own, special, private, individual More Synonyms of personal
2. adjective [usually ADJECTIVE noun]
If you give something your personal care or attention, you deal with it yourself rather than letting someone else deal with it.
...a business that requires a great deal of personal contact.
...a personal letter from the President's secretary.
People do not mind paying a bit extra for the personal touch.
3. adjective
Personal matters relate to your feelings, relationships, and health.
...teaching young people about marriage and personal relationships.
You never allow personal problems to affect your performance.
We sacrifice our personal lives to our work.
Mr Knight said that he had resigned for personal reasons.
4. adjective
Personal comments refer to someone's appearance or character in an offensive way.
Newspapers resorted to personal abuse.
Myra was attacking something I'd written, and her attack got a little personal.
5. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
Personal care involves looking after your body and appearance.
...people who take time and care over personal hygiene.
6. adjective
A personal relationship is one that is not connected with your job or public life.
He was a personal friend whom I've known for many years.
What began as a professional relationship became a personal one pretty quickly.
7. See also personals
More Synonyms of personal
personal in British English
(ˈpɜːsənəl)
adjective
1.
of or relating to the private aspects of a person's life
personal letters
a personal question
2. (prenominal)
of or relating to a person's body, its care, or its appearance
personal hygiene
great personal beauty
3.
belonging to or intended for a particular person and no-one else
as a personal favour
for your personal use
4. (prenominal)
undertaken by an individual himself or herself
a personal appearance by a celebrity
5.
referring to, concerning, or involving a person's individual personality, intimate affairs, etc, esp in an offensive way
personal remarks
don't be so personal
6.
having the attributes of an individual conscious being
a personal God
7.
of or arising from the personality
personal magnetism
8.
of, relating to, or denoting grammatical person
9. law
of or relating to movable property, such as money
Compare real1 (sense 8)
noun
10. law
an item of movable property
personal in American English
(ˈpɜrsənəl)
adjective
1.
of or peculiar to a certain person; private; individual
2.
done in person or by oneself without the use of another person or outside agency
a personal interview
3.
involving persons or human beings
personal relationships
4.
of the person, body, or physical appearance
personal hygiene
5.
a.
having to do with the character, personality, intimate affairs, conduct, etc. of a certain person
a personal remark
b.
tending to make personal, esp. derogatory, remarks
to get personal in an argument
6.
of, like, or having the nature of a person, or rational, self-conscious being
7. Grammar
indicating grammatical person
personal pronouns, personal endings of verbs in Greek and other highly inflected languages
8. Law
of or constituting personal property
noun
9. US
a local news item about a person or persons
10. US
a.
a short, personal communication placed as in a newspaper
b.
a classified advertisement placed for the purpose of seeking someone to date or have a personal relationship with
c. [pl.]
a section of such advertisements, as in a newspaper
Word origin
OFr < L personalis
Examples of 'personal' in a sentence
personal
These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content.Read more…
The goals you set yourself both at work and in your personal life are ambitious.
The Sun (2016)
By then he was being asked to ship other items aside from electrical goods and personal effects.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The system allows owners to pass profits and losses through to personal tax returns.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
This could provide funds for each son and so fulfil one of his personal ambitions.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
He needed to be tough to withstand the personal attacks from the press that scarred his tenure.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
The exam board should return to this challenge and not deprive future generations of a source of great intellectual and personal enrichment.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
A number of upcoming personal appearances vanished.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
A number of hurdles lie ahead before any claim can succeed, including overcoming the time limit on bringing personal injury claims before the courts.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
There are so many clichés surrounding personal transformation, something that is open to all of us in a way that it wouldn't have been in previous generations.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The demise of those empires has had heavy costs in reputation but little in personal hardship.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Witness is a temporary term in a personal sense.
Christianity Today (2000)
Residents are not taxed on personal income.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
They switched us on with their personal attacks.
The Sun (2013)
One is the personal injury or negligence claim that comes before a court.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The potential for vast personal fortunes suddenly became limitless.
Amanda Mackenzie Stuart Consuelo & Alva: Love and Power in the Gilded Age (2005)
Men put in just six months on their personal hygiene.
The Sun (2012)
It was really divine and we had great personal timing together.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
It may have been something more personal.
Judd, Alan Ford Madox Ford (1990)
The transferable allowance will rise in line with inflation in the same way as the personal allowance.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
She has a very particular personal perspective.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Write or email me for a guaranteed detailed personal reply.
The Sun (2009)
The prospect for personal injury lawyers is alarming.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Perhaps he drew attention because of his personal life.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Offer to help at mealtimes and with personal care.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The deal is subject to a medical and the agreement of personal terms.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Often speech is more important than personal appearance.
Lumsden, Robert 23 Steps to Successful Achievement (1972)
Personal tax is only part of the equation.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
It was not supposed to be a personal attack.
The Sun (2006)
His existence is one of personal war.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
The personal fortunes of today's rich are reaching record heights.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Personal growth and good leadership are two other areas where the top 20 big firms perform particularly well.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Employees say their job is good for personal growth, returning a top five positive score of 85% in our survey.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
In other languages
personal
British English: personal /ˈpɜːsənəl/ ADJECTIVE
A personal opinion, quality, or thing belongs or relates to a particular person.
That's my personal opinion.
American English: personal
Arabic: شَخْصِيٌّ
Brazilian Portuguese: pessoal
Chinese: 私人的
Croatian: osoban
Czech: osobní
Danish: personlig
Dutch: persoonlijk
European Spanish: personal
Finnish: henkilökohtainen
French: personnel confidentiel
German: persönlich
Greek: προσωπικός
Italian: personale individuale
Japanese: 個人的な
Korean: 개인의
Norwegian: personlig
Polish: osobisty
European Portuguese: pessoal
Romanian: personal
Russian: личный
Latin American Spanish: personal de uso propio
Swedish: personlig
Thai: ส่วนบุคคล
Turkish: kişisel
Ukrainian: персональний
Vietnamese: riêng tư
Translate your text for free
All related terms of 'personal'
personal ad
an advertisement of a private nature
personal best
A sports player's personal best is the highest score or fastest time that they have ever achieved.
personal call
a private phone call
personal care
help given to elderly or infirm people with essential everyday activities such as washing , dressing , and meals
personal foul
a foul awarded for making illegal contact with an opponent
personal loan
a loan of money for personal use
personal chair
a professorship awarded in recognition of academic achievement
personal column
The personal column in a newspaper or magazine contains messages for individual people and advertisements of a private nature .
personal estate
movable property
personal friend
a person who is a friend , rather than a colleague or acquaintance
personal growth
development as an individual
personal injury
Personal injury is physical harm that is done to or suffered by someone.
personal issue
An issue is an important subject that people are arguing about or discussing.
personal letter
If you write a letter to someone, you write a message on paper and send it to them, usually by post .
personal matter
A matter is a task , situation, or event which you have to deal with or think about, especially one that involves problems .
personal reply
A reply is something that you say or write when you answer someone or answer a letter or advertisement .
personal safety
Safety is the state of being safe from harm or danger .
personal space
If someone invades your personal space , they stand or lean too close to you, so that you feel uncomfortable .
personal staff
the aides of a general officer or a flag officer
personal stereo
A personal stereo is a small cassette or CD player with very light headphones, which people carry round so that they can listen to music while doing something else.
personal taste
A person's taste is their choice in the things that they like or buy , for example their clothes, possessions , or music. If you say that someone has good taste , you mean that you approve of their choices. If you say that they have poor taste , you disapprove of their choices.
chattel personal
an item of movable personal property , such as furniture , domestic animals, etc
personal allowance
the amount of money you are allowed to earn each year without paying tax
personal assistant
A personal assistant is a person who does office work and administrative work for someone. The abbreviation → PA is also used.
personal bodyguard
a person employed to protect a particular person
personal computer
A personal computer is a computer that is used by one person at a time in a business , a school , or at home . The abbreviation → PC is also used.
personal contact
Contact involves meeting or communicating with someone, especially regularly.
personal details
details about a person such as their name and address
personal effects
personal possessions ; property
personal equation
the variation or error in observation or judgment caused by individual characteristics
personal exemption
Your personal exemption is the amount of money that is deducted from your gross income before you have to start paying income tax .
personal favourite
Your favourite thing or person of a particular type is the one you like most.
personal freedom
Freedom is the state of being allowed to do what you want to do. Freedoms are instances of this.
personal history
You can refer to the events of the past as history . You can also refer to the past events which concern a particular topic or place as its history.
personal hygiene
bodily cleanliness
personal identity
The identity of a person or place is the characteristics they have that distinguish them from others.
personal insurance
insurance on personal risk , such as car insurance, health insurance or loss of earnings insurance
personal liberty
the liberty of an individual to do his or her will freely except for those restraints imposed by law to safeguard the physical, moral , political, and economic welfare of others
personal organizer
A personal organizer is a book containing personal or business information , which you can add pages to or remove pages from to keep the information up to date . Small computers with a similar function are also called personal organizers .
personal pension
a private pension scheme in which an individual contributes part of his or her salary to a financial institution , which invests it so that a lump sum is available on retirement ; this is then used to purchase an annuity
personal pronoun
A personal pronoun is a pronoun such as 'I', 'you', 'she', or 'they' which is used to refer to the speaker or the person spoken to, or to a person or thing whose identity is clear , usually because they have already been mentioned .
personal property
movable property, such as furniture or money
personal reasons
The reason for something is a fact or situation which explains why it happens or what causes it to happen.
personal shopper
a person employed, esp by a shop, to accompany and advise customers on shopping trips or to select items for them
personal stories
A story is a description of an event or something that happened to someone, especially a spoken description of it.
personal stylist
a person employed by a rich or famous client to offer advice on clothes, hairstyles , and other aspects of personal appearance
personal tragedy
A tragedy is an extremely sad event or situation .
personal trainer
a person employed by someone to give advice and guidance on exercise and fitness