privilege

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See also: Privilege and privilège

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English privilege, from Anglo-Norman privilege and Old French privilege, from Latin prīvilēgium (ordinance or law against or in favor of an individual), from prīvus (private) + lēx, lēg- (law).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈpɹɪv(ɪ)lɪd͡ʒ/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: priv‧i‧lege, privi‧lege

Noun[edit]

privilege (countable and uncountable, plural privileges)

  1. (ecclesiastical law, now chiefly historical) An exemption from certain laws granted by the Pope. [from 8th c.]
  2. (countable) A particular benefit, advantage, or favor; a right or immunity enjoyed by some but not others; a prerogative, preferential treatment. [from 10th c.]
    Synonyms: franchise, immunity, prerogative, right, (Scotland, Northern England) freelage
    All first-year professors here must teach four courses a term, yet you're only teaching one! What entitled you to such a privilege?
  3. An especially rare or fortunate opportunity; the good fortune (to do something). [from 14th c.]
    • 2012, The Observer, letter, 29 April:
      I had the privilege to sit near him in the House for a small part of his Commons service and there was an additional device provided to aid his participation in debates.
  4. (uncountable) The fact of being privileged; the status or existence of (now especially social or economic) benefit or advantage within a given society. [from 14th c.]
    Synonyms: advantage, foredeal
    • 1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. III:
      People who at any other time would cling like glue to their miserable scraps of privilege, will surrender them fast enough when their country is in danger.
    • 2013 October 21, Azad Essa, “South Africa's 'miracle transition' has not put an end to white privilege”, in The Guardian[1], Guardian Media Group:
      There is no complexity expressed in the feverish discussions of white privilege that periodically grips South Africa's chattering class.
    • 2013, The Guardian, 21 Oct, (headline):
      South Africa's 'miracle transition' has not put an end to white privilege.
  5. A right or immunity enjoyed by a legislative body or its members. [from 16th c.]
    Synonym: immunity
    • 2001, The Guardian, leader, 1 May:
      Dr Grigori Loutchansky is – according to a congressman speaking under congressional privilege – a "purported Russian mob figure".
  6. (countable, US, finance, now rare) A stock market option. [from 19th c.]
  7. (law) A common law doctrine that protects certain communications from being used as evidence in court.
    Your honor, my client is not required to answer that; her response is protected by attorney-client privilege.
  8. (computing) An ability to perform an action on the system that can be selectively granted or denied to users.
    Synonym: permission

Synonyms[edit]

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Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

privilege (third-person singular simple present privileges, present participle privileging, simple past and past participle privileged)

  1. (archaic) To grant some particular right or exemption to; to invest with a peculiar right or immunity; to authorize
    to privilege representatives from arrest
  2. (archaic) To bring or put into a condition of privilege or exemption from evil or danger; to exempt; to deliver.

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle Dutch privilegie, from Old French privilege, from Latin privilegium.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˌpri.viˈleː.ʒə/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: pri‧vi‧le‧ge

Noun[edit]

privilege n (plural privileges)

  1. privilege, prerogative (particular right or favour)
    Synonym: voorrecht

Derived terms[edit]

Old French[edit]

Noun[edit]

privilege oblique singularm (oblique plural privileges, nominative singular privileges, nominative plural privilege)

  1. privilege (benefit only given to certain people)

Descendants[edit]

  • English: privilege
  • Middle French: privilege

References[edit]

  • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (privilege, supplement)