Words / B2

PRIV-uh-lij/ˈprɪvəlɪdʒ/

A privilege is a special right or advantage: a privilege of office, privileged access, privilege (legal: the right to withhold evidence). Honour can be ceremonial; right is something everyone may claim. Privileged is the adjective (a privileged background). In speech, a special advantage is enough. It can sound political in essays — define it — and do not use it for a basic legal right (that is a right), or confuse it with private.

Meaning

A special right or advantage that only some people have.

Examples

• “Access to the archive is a privilege, not a right, for visiting scholars.”
• “Access to the archive is a privilege for visiting fellows, not an open right.”
• “Parliamentary privilege protects some speeches, which is the legal sense.”

Good to know

a privilege of; privileged access. Contrast: a right (for everyone). Adjective: privileged. Legal sense exists. Not private. Serious/academic tone.

Near in meaning

advantage

New