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privatization

/praɪvɪɾɪˈzeɪʃɪn/
/praɪvɪtɪˈzeɪʃən/
IPA guide

Other forms: privatizations

When something is owned by the government — like a healthcare system, for example — and its ownership becomes privately held, it's called privatization.

If your governor had a plan to replace all the public schools in the state with private schools, you could describe it as privatization. People tend to have strong opinions about privatization, believing either that free enterprise and private companies increase efficiency, or that certain services are harmed by privatization, particularly education, healthcare, and law enforcement. At the heart of privatization is the word private, rooted in the Latin privatus, "belonging to the self rather than the state."

Definitions of privatization
  1. noun
    changing something from state to private ownership or control
    see moresee less
    type of:
    social control
    control exerted (actively or passively) by group action
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