Definition of private

"private" in the noun sense

1. private, buck private, common soldier

an enlisted man of the lowest rank in the Army or Marines

"our prisoner was just a private and knew nothing of value"

"private" in the adjective sense

1. private

confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy

"a private place"

"private discussions"

"private lessons"

"a private club"

"a private secretary"

"private property"

"the former President is now a private citizen"

"public figures struggle to maintain a private life"

2. private, intimate

concerning things deeply private and personal

"intimate correspondence"

"private family matters"

3. individual, private

concerning one person exclusively

"we all have individual cars"

"each room has a private bath"

4. secret, private

not expressed

"secret (or private) thoughts"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.


View WordNet® License

Quotations for private

Friendship's the privilege
Of private men. [ N. Tate ]

Face to face; a private conversation. [ French ]

Religion crowns the statesman and the man,
Sole source of public and of private peace. [ Young ]

Slave to no sect, who takes no private road,
But looks through Nature up to Nature's God. [ Pope ]

Greatness, with private men
Esteem'd a blessing, is to me a curse;
And we, whom from our high births they conclude
The only free men, are the only slaves:
Happy the golden mean. [ Massinger ]

There are things
Which make revenge a virtue by reflection,
And not an impulse of mere anger; though
The laws sleep, justice wakes, and injured souls
Oft do a public right with private wrong. [ Byron ]

Advise your friends in private, praise them openly. [ Publius Syrus ]

The public sense is in advance of private practice. [ Chapin ]

Chide a friend in private and praise him in public. [ Solon ]

She that is ashamed to eat at table, eats in private. [ Proverb ]

I never whisper'd a private affair
Within the hearing of cat or mouse,
No, not to myself in the closet alone,
But I heard it shouted at once from the top of the house;
Everything came to be known. [ Alfred Tennyson ]

Friendship, love, and piety, should be treated in private. [ Novalis ]

You should not live one way in private, another in public. [ Syrus ]

He that puts on a public gown must put off a private person. [ Proverb ]

Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. [ Beecher ]

That is the best part of each writer which has nothing private in it. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

Who knows but that my private watch may go truer than the town-clock? [ Proverb ]

Contempt for private wrongs was one of the features of ancient morals. [ Joubert ]

We have luxury and avarice, but as a people poverty, and in private opulence. [ Cato in Sall ]

Every private in the French army carries a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack. [ Napoleon ]

Generosity, wrong placed, becometh a vice; a princely mind will undo a private family. [ Fuller ]

Right is more beautiful than private affection, and is compatible with universal wisdom. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

Wise men read very sharply all of your private history in your look and gait and behavior. [ Emerson ]

For my own private satisfaction, I had rather be master of my own time than wear a diadem. [ Bishop Berkeley ]

I would give more for the private esteem and love of one than for the public praise of ten thousand. [ W. R. Alger ]

Who cries out on pride that can therein tax any private party? Doth it not flow as hugely as the sea? [ William Shakespeare ]

Wealth cannot purchase any great private solace or convenience. Riches are only the means of sociality. [ Henry D. Thoreau ]

As much wisdom may be expended on a private economy as on an empire, and as much wisdom may be drawn from it. [ Emerson ]

The too good opinion man has of himself is the nursing-mother of all false opinions, both public and private. [ Montaigne ]

To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men - that is genius. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

Demean thyself more warily in thy study than in the street. If thy public actions have a hundred witnesses, thy private have a thousand. [ Quarles ]

Coarse kindness is at least better than coarse anger; and in all private quarrels the duller nature is triumphant by reason of its dullness. [ George Eliot ]

Is death more cruel from a private dagger than in the field from murdering swords of thousands? Or does the number slain make slaughter glorious? [ Gibber ]

The cabinets of the sick and the closets of the dead have been ransacked to publish private letters and divulge to all mankind the most secret sentiments of friendship. [ Pope ]

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

Out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, private records and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of books, and the like, we do save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time. [ Bacon ]

If the secret history of books could be written, and the author's private thoughts and meanings noted down alongside of his story, how many insipid volumes would become interesting, and dull tales excite the reader. [ Thackeray ]

As those that pull down private houses adjoining to the temples of the gods, prop up such parts as are continguous to them; so, in undermining bashfulness, due regard is to be had to adjacent modesty, good-nature and humanity. [ Plutarch ]

The growth of the intellect is spontaneous in every expansion. The mind that grows could not predict the times, the means, the mode of that spontaneity. God enters by a private door into every individual. Long prior to reflection is the thinking of the mind. [ Emerson ]

The liberty of a people consists in being governed by laws which they have made themselves, under whatsoever form it may be of government; the liberty of a private man, in being master of his own time and actions, as far as may consist with the laws of God and of his country. [ Cowley ]

Civilized society feels that manners are of more importance than morals, and the highest respectability is of less value than the possession of a good chef. Even the cardinal virtues cannot atone for cold entrees, nor an irreproachable private life for a bad dinner and poor wines. [ Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Grey ]

A French woman is a perfect architect in dress: she never, with Gothic ignorance, mixes the orders; she never tricks out a snobby Doric shape with Corinthian finery; or, to speak without metaphor, she conforms to general fashion only when it happens not to be repugnant to private beauty. [ Goldsmith ]

The study of art possesses this great and peculiar charm, that it is absolutely unconnected with the struggles and contests of ordinary life. By private interests, by political questions, men are deeply divided, and set at variance; but beyond and above all such party strifes, they are attracted and united by a taste for the beautiful in art. [ Guizot ]

Nominate or Name? To nominate is to mention for a specific purpose. To name is to mention for a general purpose. Persons only are nominated; things, as well as persons, are named. To be nominated is a public act; to be named is generally private. To be nominated is always an honor; to be named may, according to circumstances, be either honorable or dishonorable. [ Pure English, Hackett And Girvin, 1884 ]

The man whose bosom neither riches nor luxury nor grandeur can render happy may, with a book in his hand, forget all his torments under the friendly shade of every tree; and experience pleasures as infinite as they are varied, as pure as they are lasting, as lively as they are unfading, and as compatible with every public duty as they are contributory to private happiness. [ Zimmermann ]

Society is infected with rude, cynical, restless, and frivolous persons who prey upon the rest, and whom no public opinion concentrated into good manners, forms accepted by the sense of all, can reach; the contradictors and railers at public and private tables, who are like terriers, who conceive it the duty of a dog of honor to growl at any passer-by, and do the honors of the house by barking him out of sight. [ Emerson ]

There is a story of some mountains of salt in Cumana, which never diminished, though carried away in much abundance by merchants; but when once they were monopolized to the benefit of a private purse, then the salt decreased, till afterward all were allowed to take of it, when it had a new access and increase. The truth of this story may be uncertain, but the application is true; he that envies others the use of his gifts decays then, but he thrives most that is most diffusive. [ Spencer ]

The love of flowers seems a naturally implanted passion, without any alloy or debasing object in its motive; we cherish them in youth, we admire them in declining years; but perhaps it is the early flowers of spring that always bring with them the greatest degree of pleasure; and our affections seem to expand at the sight of the first blossom under the sunny wall, or sheltered bank, however humble its race may be. With summer flowers we seem to live, as with our neighbors, in harmony and good order; but spring flowers are cherished as private friendships. [ G. A. Sola ]

private in Scrabble®

The word private is playable in Scrabble®, no blanks required.

Scrabble® Letter Score: 12

Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays In The Letters private:

PRIVATE
(98 = 48 + 50)
PRIVATE
(98 = 48 + 50)
PRIVATE
(98 = 48 + 50)

Seven Letter Word Alert: (1 word)

private

 

All Scrabble® Plays For The Word private

PRIVATE
(98 = 48 + 50)
PRIVATE
(98 = 48 + 50)
PRIVATE
(98 = 48 + 50)
PRIVATE
(95 = 45 + 50)
PRIVATE
(89 = 39 + 50)
PRIVATE
(89 = 39 + 50)
PRIVATE
(89 = 39 + 50)
PRIVATE
(89 = 39 + 50)
PRIVATE
(89 = 39 + 50)
PRIVATE
(86 = 36 + 50)
PRIVATE
(82 = 32 + 50)
PRIVATE
(80 = 30 + 50)
PRIVATE
(80 = 30 + 50)
PRIVATE
(78 = 28 + 50)
PRIVATE
(78 = 28 + 50)
PRIVATE
(78 = 28 + 50)
PRIVATE
(78 = 28 + 50)
PRIVATE
(78 = 28 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(74 = 24 + 50)
PRIVATE
(74 = 24 + 50)
PRIVATE
(74 = 24 + 50)
PRIVATE
(74 = 24 + 50)
PRIVATE
(74 = 24 + 50)
PRIVATE
(70 = 20 + 50)
PRIVATE
(70 = 20 + 50)
PRIVATE
(67 = 17 + 50)
PRIVATE
(67 = 17 + 50)
PRIVATE
(67 = 17 + 50)
PRIVATE
(67 = 17 + 50)
PRIVATE
(66 = 16 + 50)
PRIVATE
(66 = 16 + 50)
PRIVATE
(66 = 16 + 50)
PRIVATE
(66 = 16 + 50)
PRIVATE
(64 = 14 + 50)
PRIVATE
(64 = 14 + 50)
PRIVATE
(64 = 14 + 50)

The 200 Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays For Words Using The Letters In private

PRIVATE
(98 = 48 + 50)
PRIVATE
(98 = 48 + 50)
PRIVATE
(98 = 48 + 50)
PRIVATE
(95 = 45 + 50)
PRIVATE
(89 = 39 + 50)
PRIVATE
(89 = 39 + 50)
PRIVATE
(89 = 39 + 50)
PRIVATE
(89 = 39 + 50)
PRIVATE
(89 = 39 + 50)
PRIVATE
(86 = 36 + 50)
PRIVATE
(82 = 32 + 50)
PRIVATE
(80 = 30 + 50)
PRIVATE
(80 = 30 + 50)
PRIVATE
(78 = 28 + 50)
PRIVATE
(78 = 28 + 50)
PRIVATE
(78 = 28 + 50)
PRIVATE
(78 = 28 + 50)
PRIVATE
(78 = 28 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(76 = 26 + 50)
PRIVATE
(74 = 24 + 50)
PRIVATE
(74 = 24 + 50)
PRIVATE
(74 = 24 + 50)
PRIVATE
(74 = 24 + 50)
PRIVATE
(74 = 24 + 50)
PRIVATE
(70 = 20 + 50)
PRIVATE
(70 = 20 + 50)
PRIVATE
(67 = 17 + 50)
PRIVATE
(67 = 17 + 50)
PRIVATE
(67 = 17 + 50)
PRIVATE
(67 = 17 + 50)
PRIVATE
(66 = 16 + 50)
PRIVATE
(66 = 16 + 50)
PRIVATE
(66 = 16 + 50)
PRIVATE
(66 = 16 + 50)
PRIVATE
(64 = 14 + 50)
PRIVATE
(64 = 14 + 50)
PRIVATE
(64 = 14 + 50)
VAPER
(42)
VIPER
(42)
VAPE
(39)
VAPER
(36)
VITAE
(36)
AVERT
(36)
PAVE
(36)
VIPER
(36)
VEAR
(33)
VAPER
(33)
VIPER
(33)
VIPER
(33)
PIRATE
(33)
VAPER
(33)
VAPER
(33)
VITA
(33)
VIPER
(33)
VITAE
(32)
RETAP
(30)
VIPER
(30)
VIPER
(30)
APTER
(30)
PRATE
(30)
PATER
(30)
VIPER
(30)
PAVE
(30)
PIETA
(30)
VAPER
(30)
TRIPE
(30)
VAPER
(30)
VAPER
(30)
VAPE
(30)
PARTI
(30)
VIPER
(28)
PIRATE
(28)
VAPER
(28)
VIPER
(28)
VAPER
(28)
PAVE
(27)
TERP
(27)
AVERT
(27)
PATE
(27)
AVERT
(27)
PEAT
(27)
PAVE
(27)
PAVE
(27)
TRAP
(27)
AVERT
(27)
VAPE
(27)
PEAR
(27)
TRIP
(27)
VAPE
(27)
REAP
(27)
PERT
(27)
VAPE
(27)
VAPE
(27)
PAVE
(27)
VITAE
(27)
RIVET
(27)
PIRATE
(27)
PIRATE
(27)
PIRATE
(27)
PIER
(27)
RIVET
(27)
RIVET
(27)
PAIR
(27)
PIRATE
(27)
RIVET
(27)
PARE
(27)
PART
(27)
TARP
(27)
VITAE
(27)
PIRATE
(27)
VITAE
(27)
PITA
(27)
PATER
(26)
RETAP
(26)
PRATE
(26)
PIETA
(26)
PARTI
(26)
VAPE
(26)
AVERT
(24)
PATER
(24)
PATER
(24)
TAPER
(24)
TRIPE
(24)
TAPIR
(24)
TRIPE
(24)
VITAE
(24)
RAVE
(24)
VIPER
(24)
AVERT
(24)
TAPER
(24)
TAPER
(24)
PAVE
(24)
VITA
(24)
RETAP
(24)
VITAE
(24)
VITAE
(24)
RETAP
(24)
AVER
(24)
VITAE
(24)
VITAE
(24)
AVERT
(24)
TAPER
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AVER
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RETAP
(24)
TAPIR
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TRIPE
(24)
PIETA
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PARTI
(24)
PIETA
(24)
PATER
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PIETA
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PARTI
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VEAR
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PARTI
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RIVET
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RIVET
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RIVE
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PRATE
(24)
VAPER
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PRATE
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RAVE
(24)
RIVE
(24)
PIRATE
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APTER
(24)
APTER
(24)
PRATE
(24)
TAPIR
(24)
APTER
(24)
PIRATE
(24)
TAPIR
(24)
RIVET
(24)
VEAR
(22)
VAPER
(22)
VAPER
(22)
VIPER
(22)
PIRATE
(22)
PIRATE
(22)
VITA
(22)
VIPER
(22)
RIVE
(21)
RIPE
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RIVE
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PATER
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TRIPE
(21)
TAPE
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PEAR
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PARTI
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PART
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TRIPE
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TRIP
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RIVE
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TAPIR
(21)
TAPER
(21)
RAVE
(21)
TRIPE
(21)

private in Words With Friends™

The word private is playable in Words With Friends™, no blanks required.

Words With Friends™ Letter Score: 14

Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays In The Letters private:

PRIVATE
(113 = 78 + 35)
PRIVATE
(113 = 78 + 35)

Seven Letter Word Alert: (1 word)

private

 

All Words With Friends™ Plays For The Word private

PRIVATE
(113 = 78 + 35)
PRIVATE
(113 = 78 + 35)
PRIVATE
(107 = 72 + 35)
PRIVATE
(107 = 72 + 35)
PRIVATE
(107 = 72 + 35)
PRIVATE
(101 = 66 + 35)
PRIVATE
(91 = 56 + 35)
PRIVATE
(91 = 56 + 35)
PRIVATE
(91 = 56 + 35)
PRIVATE
(89 = 54 + 35)
PRIVATE
(83 = 48 + 35)
PRIVATE
(83 = 48 + 35)
PRIVATE
(83 = 48 + 35)
PRIVATE
(79 = 44 + 35)
PRIVATE
(71 = 36 + 35)
PRIVATE
(67 = 32 + 35)
PRIVATE
(67 = 32 + 35)
PRIVATE
(67 = 32 + 35)
PRIVATE
(67 = 32 + 35)
PRIVATE
(67 = 32 + 35)
PRIVATE
(65 = 30 + 35)
PRIVATE
(65 = 30 + 35)
PRIVATE
(65 = 30 + 35)
PRIVATE
(65 = 30 + 35)
PRIVATE
(65 = 30 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(59 = 24 + 35)
PRIVATE
(59 = 24 + 35)
PRIVATE
(58 = 23 + 35)
PRIVATE
(58 = 23 + 35)
PRIVATE
(55 = 20 + 35)
PRIVATE
(55 = 20 + 35)
PRIVATE
(55 = 20 + 35)
PRIVATE
(55 = 20 + 35)
PRIVATE
(55 = 20 + 35)
PRIVATE
(54 = 19 + 35)
PRIVATE
(54 = 19 + 35)
PRIVATE
(54 = 19 + 35)
PRIVATE
(53 = 18 + 35)
PRIVATE
(53 = 18 + 35)
PRIVATE
(53 = 18 + 35)
PRIVATE
(52 = 17 + 35)
PRIVATE
(51 = 16 + 35)
PRIVATE
(51 = 16 + 35)
PRIVATE
(51 = 16 + 35)
PRIVATE
(51 = 16 + 35)
PRIVATE
(51 = 16 + 35)
PRIVATE
(50 = 15 + 35)
PRIVATE
(50 = 15 + 35)
PRIVATE
(50 = 15 + 35)
PRIVATE
(50 = 15 + 35)
PRIVATE
(49 = 14 + 35)

The 200 Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays Using The Letters In private

PRIVATE
(113 = 78 + 35)
PRIVATE
(113 = 78 + 35)
PRIVATE
(107 = 72 + 35)
PRIVATE
(107 = 72 + 35)
PRIVATE
(107 = 72 + 35)
PRIVATE
(101 = 66 + 35)
PRIVATE
(91 = 56 + 35)
PRIVATE
(91 = 56 + 35)
PRIVATE
(91 = 56 + 35)
PRIVATE
(89 = 54 + 35)
PRIVATE
(83 = 48 + 35)
PRIVATE
(83 = 48 + 35)
PRIVATE
(83 = 48 + 35)
PRIVATE
(79 = 44 + 35)
PRIVATE
(71 = 36 + 35)
PRIVATE
(67 = 32 + 35)
PRIVATE
(67 = 32 + 35)
PRIVATE
(67 = 32 + 35)
PRIVATE
(67 = 32 + 35)
PRIVATE
(67 = 32 + 35)
VIPER
(66)
VAPER
(66)
PRIVATE
(65 = 30 + 35)
PRIVATE
(65 = 30 + 35)
PRIVATE
(65 = 30 + 35)
PRIVATE
(65 = 30 + 35)
PRIVATE
(65 = 30 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
VAPE
(63)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(63 = 28 + 35)
PRIVATE
(59 = 24 + 35)
PRIVATE
(59 = 24 + 35)
PRIVATE
(58 = 23 + 35)
PRIVATE
(58 = 23 + 35)
PAVE
(57)
VITAE
(57)
AVERT
(57)
PIRATE
(57)
PRIVATE
(55 = 20 + 35)
PRIVATE
(55 = 20 + 35)
PRIVATE
(55 = 20 + 35)
PRIVATE
(55 = 20 + 35)
PRIVATE
(55 = 20 + 35)
PRIVATE
(54 = 19 + 35)
VEAR
(54)
VITA
(54)
PRIVATE
(54 = 19 + 35)
PRIVATE
(54 = 19 + 35)
PRIVATE
(53 = 18 + 35)
PRIVATE
(53 = 18 + 35)
PRIVATE
(53 = 18 + 35)
PRIVATE
(52 = 17 + 35)
PRIVATE
(51 = 16 + 35)
PRIVATE
(51 = 16 + 35)
PRIVATE
(51 = 16 + 35)
PIRATE
(51)
PRIVATE
(51 = 16 + 35)
PRIVATE
(51 = 16 + 35)
PRIVATE
(50 = 15 + 35)
PRIVATE
(50 = 15 + 35)
PRIVATE
(50 = 15 + 35)
PRIVATE
(50 = 15 + 35)
PRIVATE
(49 = 14 + 35)
PRATE
(48)
PIETA
(48)
PARTI
(48)
VIPER
(48)
RETAP
(48)
PATER
(48)
APTER
(48)
VAPER
(48)
TRIPE
(48)
PERT
(45)
PIER
(45)
REAP
(45)
PATE
(45)
TARP
(45)
PITA
(45)
PAIR
(45)
TRAP
(45)
PEAR
(45)
PART
(45)
PEAT
(45)
TRIP
(45)
TERP
(45)
PARE
(45)
VIPER
(44)
VAPER
(44)
VAPER
(42)
VIPER
(42)
VIPER
(42)
VIPER
(42)
VAPER
(42)
VAPER
(42)
PIRATE
(39)
VAPE
(39)
PAVE
(39)
VITAE
(38)
RIVET
(36)
VIPER
(36)
VAPER
(36)
VITAE
(36)
VAPER
(36)
VIPER
(36)
AVERT
(36)
PIRATE
(36)
PIRATE
(36)
VAPER
(36)
VIPER
(36)
VIPER
(34)
VAPER
(34)
PIRATE
(34)
PIRATE
(33)
PIRATE
(33)
AVERT
(33)
PIRATE
(33)
AVERT
(33)
RIVET
(33)
PIRATE
(33)
PIRATE
(33)
RIVET
(33)
AVERT
(33)
RIVET
(33)
RIVET
(33)
VITAE
(33)
VAPE
(33)
VAPE
(33)
VAPE
(33)
VITAE
(33)
VAPE
(33)
VITAE
(33)
PAVE
(33)
PAVE
(33)
PAVE
(33)
PAVE
(33)
PRATE
(32)
RETAP
(32)
PRATE
(32)
TAPIR
(32)
RETAP
(32)
TAPER
(32)
TRIPE
(32)
PATER
(32)
PARTI
(32)
PATER
(32)
APTER
(32)
PIETA
(32)
VAPE
(32)
PIETA
(32)
PARTI
(32)
TRIPE
(30)
PRATE
(30)
PATER
(30)
PAVE
(30)
VEAR
(30)
PIETA
(30)
VIPER
(30)
VAPER
(30)
RETAP
(30)
PARTI
(30)
VITA
(30)
RETAP
(30)
PATER
(30)
APTER
(30)
PRATE
(30)
RAVE
(30)
PRATE
(30)
APTER
(30)
APTER
(30)
RIVE
(30)
PATER
(30)
PARTI
(30)
PIETA
(30)
TRIPE
(30)
TAPER
(30)
AVER
(30)
RIVE
(30)
TAPER
(30)
TAPER
(30)
TRIPE
(30)
TAPER
(30)
PARTI
(30)
RAVE
(30)
TAPIR
(30)
TAPIR
(30)
RETAP
(30)
AVER
(30)
TAPIR
(30)
PIETA
(30)
TAPIR
(30)
VAPE
(29)
PAVE
(29)
VITAE
(28)
AVERT
(28)
VAPER
(28)

Words containing the sequence private

Words with private in them (1 word)

Words that end with private (2 words)

Word Growth involving private

Shorter words in private

at ate

at vat

Longer words containing private

privateer privateered

privateer privateering

privateer privateers privateersman

privateer privateers privateersmen

privately

privateness

privater

privates privatest

semiprivate