privilege
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
privilege/ˈprɪvəlɪʤ/
▶noun
- 1 a special right, advantage, or immunity for a particular person.
■ a special benefit or honour.
- 2 (also absolute privilege) (especially in a parliamentary context) the right to say or write something without the risk of punishment.
- 3 the right of a lawyer or official to refuse to divulge confidential information.
- 4 chiefly historical a grant of special rights or immunities, especially in the form of a franchise or monopoly.
■ (usu. be privileged from) exempt from a liability or obligation.
– origin ME: via OFr. from L. privilegium ‘bill or law affecting an individual’, from privus ‘private’ + lex, leg- ‘law’.
'privilege' also found in these Oxford entries:
abridge
- act
- birthright
- diplomatic immunity
- disenfranchise
- exclusionist
- exclusivism
- fee
- first refusal
- forfeit
- freedom
- incident
- include
- infringe
- inherent
- lapse
- liberty
- noblesse
- perquisite
- prerogative
- purple
- qualify
- regality
- reversioner
