privatisation

nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechmostly written

Other forms: privatisations

Privatisation is selling a public service into private hands. The privatisation of the railways, oppose privatisation, a wave of privatisation.

The argument for it is efficiency and the argument against it is that a monopoly stays a monopoly whoever owns it. British privatisation in the 1980s is the case both sides still argue over.

Definitions of privatisation

1nounprivatisationSelling a public service into private hands.C1
“The privatisation went through despite a decade of objections.”

privatisation is a policy.

Also accepted in games: privatization

Where it comes from

From privatise + -ation.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Politics & Society

Practise this word

privatisation in the wild

Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to transitioning something from the public sector into the private sector.
Privatization
The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands.
Privatisation of British Rail
The privatisation of the railways was very controversial at the time, and still is, and the impact of this policy is hotly debated.
Privatisation of British Rail
TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993.
Train operating company
The franchised operators have changed considerably since privatisation: previous franchises have been divided, merged, re-let to new operators, or renamed.
Train operating company

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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