privately

private pri‧vate [ˈpraɪvt] adjective [only before a noun]

1. private property, businesses, activities etc are owned or paid for by people and companies, rather than the government:

• They transferred ownership of thousands of companies from the state to the private sector (= the part of the economy not owned by the government ) .

• Investment bankers say that private money should be used for new municipal projects.

• private property

• private pensions

— privately adverb :

• Joe Sims, a former Justice Department lawyer who now practices privately

• a privately run prison

• privately operated toll roads

2. FINANCE involving something that is sold directly to people or organizations, without being offered openly for anyone to buy:

• The company has raised $50 million in a private placement arranged by Kemper Financial Services.

• Goldman will seek new sources of capital through a private investment offering.

• a private sale of 70 million shares, to be offered to investment institutions at A$2.55 each

— privately adverb :

• The banks will privately place the shares with individual investors.

• He will decide which works will be sold privately and which works will be sold at auction.

3. in private hands not belonging to the government:

• Slovak officials approved proposals to put 200 companies in private hands.

4. in private hands belonging to a member of the public rather than to an organization:

• There are more than 100 million handguns in private hands in the US.

5. go private also turn private if a government-owned organization goes or turns private, it is sold to investors:

• Iberia Airlines will be ready to go private next year.

• Poland's remaining state enterprises have put forward plans to turn private.

6. go private to pay for medical treatment instead of getting it free at a public hospital

7. a private company does not make its shares available for anyone to buy on a stockmarket:

• Cargill, the largest private company in the US, wants to stay that way. Says Mr West, a vice president: `We'll go public (= sell shares on the stockmarket ) the week after snowballs form in hell.'

— privately adverb :

• Cortisol Medical Research Inc., a privately-held (= privately-owned ) drug manufacturer

8. go private if a company with shares on the stockmarket goes private, its owners buy back those shares from existing shareholders so that it becomes privately owned:

• The majority of companies that went private in the last few years will become public again by reselling stock.

9. take a company private if a company's owners take it private, they buy back all shares from existing shareholders:

• The company's chairman plans to take the company private through a buy-out of the 74% of shares he doesn't already own.

10. only for use by one particular person or group, not for everyone:

• a private road

• private accommodation

11. a private meeting, agreement, conversation etc involves only a small number of people and is kept secret:

• Mr. Miscio rose to protest, saying `This is a private meeting'.

• The visit was preceded by a private audience (= a meeting with someone important ) for the chairmen.

— privately adverb :

• He and his lawyers will be permitted to meet privately at the Oakland jail.

* * *

privately UK US /ˈpraɪvətli/ adverb

► not said or done officially or publicly: say/acknowledge/admit privately »

Officials privately admitted that the data was unreliable.

speak/meet privately (with sb) »

He met privately with his administrative team late in the day.

► ECONOMICS owned or financed by a company or group of people, rather than by the government: »

privately run/operated/managed.

»

privately funded projects