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privilege

 
Dictionary: priv·i·lege   (prĭv'ə-lĭj, prĭv'lĭj) pronunciation
n.
    1. A special advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual, class, or caste. See synonyms at right.
    2. Such an advantage, immunity, or right held as a prerogative of status or rank, and exercised to the exclusion or detriment of others.
  1. The principle of granting and maintaining a special right or immunity: a society based on privilege.
    1. Protection from being forced to disclose confidential communications in certain relationships, as between attorney and client, physician and patient, or priest and confessor.
    2. Protection from being sued for libel or slander for making otherwise actionable statements in a context or forum where open and candid expression is deemed desirable for reasons of public policy.
  2. An option to buy or sell a stock, including put, call, spread, and straddle.
tr.v., -leged, -leg·ing, -leg·es.
  1. To grant a privilege to.
  2. To free or exempt.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin prīvilēgium, a law affecting one person : prīvus, single, alone + lēx, lēg-, law.]


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A permission or right. In information security, it refers to the modes of operation that a user or a process is granted. Examples include user-level privilege, operator privilege and supervisory privilege. The privilege indicator is a token or semaphore that is maintained by the security kernel. See access mode, privileged mode and capability.

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Business Dictionary: Privilege
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Right or prerogative to do something that is unique to the individual or to a group. For example, wealth has its privileges.

Antonyms: privilege
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n

Definition: right, due
Antonyms: detriment, disadvantage


Dental Dictionary: privileges
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n

The authority granted to a physician or dentist by a hospital governing board to provide patient care in the hospital. Clinical privileges are limited to the individual’s license, experience, and competence.

Law Encyclopedia: Privilege
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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

A particular benefit, advantage, or immunity enjoyed by a person or class of people that is not shared with others. A power of exemption against or beyond the law. It is not a right but, rather, exempts one from the performance of a duty, obligation, or liability.

Word Tutor: privilege
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A special right given to a person or group.

pronunciation He was given the privilege of staying up late on Friday night because he had finished all of his homework for the week.

Quotes About: Privilege
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Quotes:

"I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. [Acts 10:34]" - Bible

"What men prize most is a privilege, even if it be that of chief mourner at a funeral." - James Russell Lowell

"What men value in this world is not rights but privileges." - H. L. Mencken

"If you don't have a policeman to stop traffic and let you walk across the street like you are somebody, how are you going to know you are somebody?" - John C. White

Wikipedia: Privilege
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A privilege—etymologically "private law" or law relating to a specific individual—is a special entitlement or immunity granted by a government or other authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. A privilege can be revoked in some cases. In modern democracies, a privilege is conditional and granted only after birth. By contrast, a right is an inherent, irrevocable entitlement held by all citizens or all human beings from birth. Miscellaneous privileges, e.g. the old common law privilege to title deeds, may still exist, though of little relevance today.[1]

In a broader sense, 'privilege' can refer to special powers or 'de facto' immunities held as a consequence of political power or wealth. Privilege of this sort may be transmitted by birth into a privileged class or achieved through individual actions. Compare elite.

One of the objectives of the French Revolution was the abolition of privilege. This meant the removal of separate laws for different social classes (nobility, clergy and ordinary people), instead subjecting everyone to the same common law. Privileges were abolished by the National Constituent Assembly on August 4, 1789.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Suzanna McNichol, The Law of Privilege (1st ed, 1992)

Misspellings: privilege
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Common misspelling(s) of privilege

  • privelege
  • privledge
  • priviledge
  • privilage
  • privelige

Translations: Privilege
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - privilegium, rettighed, immunitet
v. tr. - priviligere, fritage

Nederlands (Dutch)
bevoorrechten, privilege, vrijstellen van, voorrecht, onschendbaarheid

Français (French)
n. - privilège, apanage, (US, Fin) option
v. tr. - privilégier

Deutsch (German)
n. - Privileg, Sonderrecht, Ehre
v. - bevorrechten, privilegieren

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - προνομία, προνόμιο, βουλευτική ασυλία
v. - δίνω/εκχωρώ προνόμιο

Italiano (Italian)
favorire, privilegiare, privilegio, prerogativa

Português (Portuguese)
n. - privilégio (m)
v. - privilegiar

Русский (Russian)
давать привилегию, привилегия, льгота, особенное право

Español (Spanish)
n. - privilegio, prerrogativa, inmunidad
v. tr. - privilegiar

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - privilegium, (ensam)rätt, förmån, immunitet
v. - privilegiera, frita, undanta (från)

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
特权, 基本人权, 特别恩典, 给与...特权, 特免

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 特權, 基本人權, 特別恩典
v. tr. - 給與...特權, 特免

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 특권, 특전
v. tr. - ~에 특권을 주다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 特権, 特典, 恩典, 名誉, 権利
v. - 特権を与える, 特別に認可する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) امتياز (فعل) يمنحه امتياز‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮זכות-יתר, טובה, הנאה, יחסנות, חסינות, זכות, יתרון, מונופול, אופציה (בבורסה)‬
v. tr. - ‮השקיע על בסיס זכות-יתר, הרשה (לאדם) לעשות משהו כזכות-יתר, פטר (אדם) מהתחייבות‬


 
 
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immunity
vouchsafe
prerogative

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