privilege

1. 1.

   a special advantage or immunity or benefit not enjoyed by all

   Broaderadvantage
2. 2.

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

   “suffrage was the prerogative of white adult males”

   Synonymsprerogativeperquisiteexclusive right

   Broaderright

   Narrowereasementprivilege of the floor
3. 3.

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

   Broaderright

   Narrowerattorney-client privilegeinformer's privilegejournalist's privilegemarital communications privilegephysician-patient privilegepriest-penitent privilege

   law

1. 1.

   bestow a privilege upon

   Synonymsfavorfavour

   Broaderpermit

Other forms of privilege

plural

privileges·

past tense

privileged·

present participle

privileging·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about privilege

What does privilege mean?

privilege means "a special advantage or immunity or benefit not enjoyed by all". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in privilege?

privilege has 2 syllables: privil-ege. The stress falls on "privil". In IPA it is /ˈpɹɪvlədʒ/.

What is another word for privilege?

Close synonyms include prerogative, perquisite, exclusive right, favor, favour. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is privilege a common word?

privilege is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.