PRIVATELY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does privately mean? 

• PRIVATELY (adverb)
  The adverb PRIVATELY has 2 senses:

1. kept private or confined to those intimately concerned

2. by a private person or interest

  Familiarity information: PRIVATELY used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRIVATELY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Kept private or confined to those intimately concerned

Synonyms:

in camera; in private; privately

Context example:

he was questioned in private

Antonym:

publicly (in a manner accessible to or observable by the public; openly)

Pertainym:

private (confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

By a private person or interest

Context example:

a privately financed campaign

Antonym:

publicly (by the public or the people generally)

 Context examples 

You will begin February gently, quietly, and privately.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

So did mine, but I proved to her that I had talent by taking a few lessons privately, and then she was quite willing I should go on.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Elizabeth added privately, “And how much I shall have to conceal!”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

It has been kept very quiet, for the capital was all privately subscribed, and it’s too good a thing to let the public into.

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

Oh! he told me all about it; that Jane Fairfax and Mr. Frank Churchill are to be married, and that they have been privately engaged to one another this long while.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Having therefore first examined him privately, and then confronted him with me and the young girl, his majesty began to think that what we told him might possibly be true.

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

I was privately married, and I retired from the stage.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Very likely he had spoken to him privately, and had threatened to expose him unless he voluntarily resigned his membership of the club, and promised not to play cards again.

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

He was proud of his conquest, proud of tricking Edward, and very proud of marrying privately without his mother's consent.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

He added privately that we were now approaching the door of the unknown country, and that the fewer whom we took into our confidence the better it would be.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)