Definition of 'privy'

Word Frequency

privy

(prɪvi )

Word forms: plural privies

1. adjective

If you are privy to something secret, you have been allowed to know about it.

[formal]

Only three people, including a police officer, will be privy to the facts. [+ to]

Synonyms: informed of, aware of, in on, wise to [slang] More Synonyms of privy

2. countable noun

A privy is a toilet, especially one that is in a small building outside a house.

[old-fashioned]

Synonyms: lavatory, closet, bog [slang], latrine More Synonyms of privy

More Synonyms of privy

Word Frequency

privy in British

(ˈprɪvɪ )

adjectiveWord forms: privier or priviest

1. (postpositive; foll by to)

participating in the knowledge of something secret

2. archaic

secret, hidden, etc

3. archaic

of or relating to one person only

nounWord forms: plural privies

a lavatory, esp an outside one

5. law

a person in privity with another

privity (sense 1)

Word origin of 'privy'

C13: from Old French privé something private, from Latin prīvātus private

Word Frequency

privy in American

(ˈprɪvi ; privˈē)

adjective

1. Obsolete

private; not public

Example sentences containing 'privy'

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Does that make him a privy counsellor? Times, Sunday Times (2016)The privy council agreed with his judgment. Times, Sunday Times (2016)About 40,000 people were privy to the technical rehearsal and yet most of them kept mum. Times, Sunday Times (2012)He is the second privy counsellor to be ejected in 200 years. Times, Sunday Times (2011)After all, his first act had been to be sealed in a privy. Times, Sunday Times (2014)From the coal fire in the parlour to the outside privy, it was like stepping into a different universe. Times, Sunday Times (2014)It is her courtiers who seem not to grasp that the privy purse is filled by the public's increasingly tatty wallet. Times, Sunday Times (2013)A report by a group of privy counsellors predicts that most calls will be made via the internet within five years. Times, Sunday Times (2009)No one is privy to her despair, her chaos, and her shame. Bloom, Carol & Gitter, Andrea (contributor) & Gutwill, Susan (contributor) & Kogel, Laura (contributor) & Zaphiropoulos, Lela (contributor) Eating Problems: A Feminist Psychoanalytic Treatment Model (1994)She was then leader of the Commons, lord privy seal and minister for women and equality. Times, Sunday Times (2015)No one should be privy to sights above the thigh unless you've made an appointment and they're wearing gloves. Times, Sunday Times (2016)A boiler house, added in wartime and used as an outside privy, took the likely place of the original front door. Times, Sunday Times (2008)