privy

[ priv-ee ]

adjective

, priv·i·er, priv·i·est.

1. participating in the knowledge of something private or secret (usually followed by to ):

   Many persons were privy to the plot.

2. private; assigned to private uses.
3. belonging or pertaining to some particular person, especially with reference to a sovereign.
4. secret, concealed, hidden, or secluded.
5. acting or done in secret.

noun

, plural priv·ies.

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

privy

/ ˈprɪvɪ /

adjective

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

noun

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

Word 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 prīvātus private

Word History and Origins

Origin of privy¹

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

Example Sentences

He insists that because citizens pay taxes, they should be privy to the health of their leaders.

From BBC

She's done things, been places and had a life with her husband to which we feel privy despite decades apart.

From Salon

"There's things like internal investigations, internal statements. I've never read them. There are documents that I've never been privy to and they need to be produced now," she says.

From BBC

But the illegal weed market has become privy to this, and some are illegally using packaging with the label to sell black market products, said California Department of Tax and Fee Administration Director Nick Maduros.

From Los Angeles Times

In that article he had accused the king’s top advisory body, the privy council, of helping engineer the 2014 military coup which deposed an administration led by his sister Yingluck.

From BBC