PRIVILEGE

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does privilege mean? 

• PRIVILEGE (noun)
  The noun PRIVILEGE has 3 senses:

1. a special advantage or immunity or benefit not enjoyed by all

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

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

  Familiarity information: PRIVILEGE used as a noun is uncommon.

• PRIVILEGE (verb)
  The verb PRIVILEGE has 1 sense:

1. bestow a privilege upon

  Familiarity information: PRIVILEGE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRIVILEGE (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)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

exclusive right; perquisite; prerogative; privilege

Context example:

suffrage was the prerogative of white adult males

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)

• PRIVILEGE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they privilege    ... he / she / it privileges   
Past simple: privileged   
Past participle: privileged   
-ing form: privileging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bestow a privilege upon

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

favor; favour; privilege

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))

 Context examples 

I should come to Exeter to see you at once if you tell me I am privilege to come, and where and when.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was his privilege to resent it with his teeth.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Silver, I should say, was allowed his entire liberty, and in spite of daily rebuffs, seemed to regard himself once more as quite a privileged and friendly dependent.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

We elderly people have our privileges, you know.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

London dangers were the privilege of the London force.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Why can she not influence him more, when she is privileged to draw so near to him?" I asked myself.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mrs. Smith has this morning exercised the privilege of riches upon a poor dependent cousin, by sending me on business to London.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you can think anything wanting.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

If such is the case, and Mr. Micawber forfeits no privilege by entering on these duties, my anxiety is set at rest.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

O’Brien contended it was Thornton’s privilege to knock the runners loose, leaving Buck to “break it out” from a dead standstill.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)