privately
adv.in a way that does not involve other people or the public. You use this when you want to keep a conversation or action secret or personal.
adv.in a manner that excludes public presence or knowledge; restricted to a specific person or small group.
“They need to speak privately about the matter.”
“The manager asked to see the employee privately to discuss the recent performance review without distractions.”
“Although the politician supported the bill in public, he privately expressed deep reservations about its long-term economic impact during closed-door meetings.”
Typically follows the verb it modifies or appears at the end of the clause.
Learners often confuse the adverb 'privately' with the prepositional phrase 'in private'; do not use 'in' before the adverb form.
From private + -ly.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.