personal
noun
- grammatical gender
adjective
- grammatical gender
- relating to an individual person
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈpɜː.sə.nəl/ / /ˈpɜːs.nəl/ / /ˈpɜɹ.sə.nəl/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English personal, personele, from Anglo-Norman personel, personal, personell, Old French personal, personel, from Late Latin persōnālis (“of a person, personly”), equivalent to person + -al. Doublet of personnel.
- Pertaining to persons (human beings as opposed to things or animals).
- Of or pertaining to a particular person; relating to, or affecting, an individual, or each of many individuals
“personal values; personal desire”
“Her song was her personal look at the values of friendship.”
- Dealing with subjects about which one wishes (or people usually wish) to maintain privacy or discretion; not for public view; sensitive, intimate.
“personal reasons”
“You can't read my diary—it is personal.”
- Intended for sexual use.
“personal lubricant; personal massager”
- Pertaining to the external or bodily appearance; corporeal; bodily.
“personal charms”
“The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite.[…]Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?”
- Done in person; without an intermediary.
“a personal interview”
“a personal meeting”
- Relating to an individual, their character, conduct, motives, or private affairs, in an invidious and offensive manner
“personal reflections or remarks”
“Only factual argumentation, no need to get personal.”
- Of a noun or pronoun, having reference particular to humans and other entities having personality such as a named animal, a deity, a personification, etc.
- Related to grammatical first, second, etc. persons.
“a personal pronoun”
- Denoting ownership.
“one's personal vehicle, as opposed to a company vehicle”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English personal, personele, from Anglo-Norman personel, personal, personell, Old French personal, personel, from Late Latin persōnālis (“of a person, personly”), equivalent to person + -al. Doublet of personnel.
- An advertisement by which an individual attempts to meet others with similar interests.
- One's own property or asset
“1748, Tobias Smollett (translator), Alain-René Lesage (original), The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane In addition to this, a coarse shirt quite new, a pair of my father's shoes quite old, and, what rejoiced me more than all the rest, a rouleau of twenty rials in a linen rag. Behold the sum total of my personals.”
“I've had my cell ransacked, savagely searched, and as a result, had my legal papers stolen and destroyed, allong with what little personal clothing and other personals I had.”