Library / English Dictionary

PRIVILEGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A special advantage or immunity or benefit not enjoyed by all

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("privilege" is a kind of...):

advantage; vantage (the quality of having a superior or more favorable position)

Derivation:

privilege (bestow a privilege upon)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group (especially a hereditary or official right)

Example:

suffrage was the prerogative of white adult males

Synonyms:

exclusive right; perquisite; prerogative; privilege

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("privilege" is a kind of...):

right (an abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "privilege"):

easement ((law) the privilege of using something that is not your own (as using another's land as a right of way to your own land))

privilege of the floor (the right to be admitted onto the floor of a legislative assembly while it is in session)

Derivation:

privilege (bestow a privilege upon)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(law) the right to refuse to divulge information obtained in a confidential relationship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("privilege" is a kind of...):

right (an abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "privilege"):

attorney-client privilege (the right of a lawyer to refuse to divulge confidential information from his client)

informer's privilege (the right of the government to refuse to reveal the identity of an informer)

journalist's privilege (the right of a journalist to refuse to divulge sources of confidential information)

husband-wife privilege; marital communications privilege (neither spouse can divulge confidential communications from the other while they were married)

physician-patient privilege (the right of a physician to refuse to divulge confidential information from a patient without the consent of the patient)

priest-penitent privilege (the right of a clergyman to refuse to divulge confidential information received from a person during confession or similar exchanges)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bestow a privilege upon

Synonyms:

favor; favour; privilege

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "privilege" is one way to...):

allow; countenance; let; permit (consent to, give permission)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

privilege (a special advantage or immunity or benefit not enjoyed by all)

privilege (a right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group (especially a hereditary or official right))

Credits

 Context examples: 

On the contrary, answered the Colonel, warmly, I consider it the greatest privilege to have been permitted to study your methods of working.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“It is a privilege to be associated with you in the handling of a case,” said the inspector, warmly.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was not in the mate’s province to go out in the boats, and though I manœuvred cunningly for it, Wolf Larsen never granted me the privilege.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The women were proposed to be taxed according to their beauty and skill in dressing, wherein they had the same privilege with the men, to be determined by their own judgment.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

All day he effaced himself in the store, reserving for the evening, with his family, the privilege of being himself.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

We have been privileged, he cried, strutting about like a gamecock, to be present at one of the typical decisive battles of history—the battles which have determined the fate of the world.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We invalids think we are privileged people.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

She would endeavour to be rational, and to deserve the right of judging of Miss Crawford's character, and the privilege of true solicitude for him by a sound intellect and an honest heart.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one; you need not covet it), is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I am but a poor commoner of England myself, and yet I know something of charters, liberties, franchises, usages, privileges, customs, and the like.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)