PRIVY Definition & Meaning

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privy

[ priv-ee ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

privier, priviest.

participating in the knowledge of something private or secret (usually followed by to ):
Many persons were privy to the plot.
private; assigned to private uses.
belonging or pertaining to some particular person, especially with reference to a sovereign.
secret, concealed, hidden, or secluded.
acting or done in secret.

noun

plural privies.

outhouse ( def 1 ).
Law. a person participating directly in or having a derivative interest in a legal transaction.

privy

/ ˈ��ɪ��ɪ /

adjective

postpositivefoll byto participating in the knowledge of something secret
archaic.
secret, hidden, etc
archaic.
of or relating to one person only

noun

a lavatory, esp an outside one
law a person in privity with another See privity

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of privy¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English prive, from Old French: “private” (adjective), “close friend, private place” (noun), from Latin ��ī��ٳܲ� private

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of privy¹

C13: from Old French ��é something private, from Latin ��ī��ٳܲ� private

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

As a YA author who primarily writes from the perspective of teenage girls, I’ve been privy to many conversations about “un/likable female protagonists.”

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Neither were they privy to the days when she tackled the most acute personal struggles, alone behind closed doors.

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“It was very fun mapping that out and imagining the closed-door conversations that I’m not privy to,” he says.

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Francesca agreed that she had a "sense of paranoia" while filming, but watching back on TV she could see conversations she hadn't been privy to and understood more about what had happened.

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We are privy to the intimate conversations of the women as they prepare the bride for the big day.

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