To transfer an organization, asset or activity from public ownership or control to private ownership or control.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- privatize a utility
- privatize public assets
On the page
The government proposed to privatize the utility while retaining specified regulatory powers.
The scheme privatized public assets but did not settle how access would be protected.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- privatize
- Past tense
- privatized
- Past participle
- privatized
- Present participle
- privatizing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- privatize
- Present continuous
- am/is/are privatizing
- Present perfect
- have/has privatized
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been privatizing
- Past
- privatized
- Past continuous
- was/were privatizing
- Past perfect
- had privatized
- Past perfect continuous
- had been privatizing
- Future
- will privatize
- Future continuous
- will be privatizing
- Future perfect
- will have privatized
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been privatizing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: economics / business / social science. Forms: privatize; privatizes; privatized; privatized; privatizing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: economic process explanation, financial distinction, incentive analysis, institutional change. Disciplines: economics, business, public policy. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: privatizes.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.