Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - private soldier

(private soldiers) A private soldier is a soldier of the lowest rank in an army or the marines. (FORMAL) = private N-COUNT PRIVATELY If you buy or sell something privately, you buy it from or sell it to another person directly, rather than in a shop or through a business. The whole process makes buying a car privately as painless as buying from a garage... A great deal of food is distributed and sold privately without ever reaching the shops. ADV: ADV after v see also private