personal

comparative more personal · superlative most personal · alternative obsolete personall

1. Pertaining to persons (human beings as opposed to things or animals).
2. Of or pertaining to a particular person; relating to, or affecting, an individual, or each of many individuals

   personal values; personal desire

   3 more examples

   Her song was her personal look at the values of friendship.

   Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives. To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief in Snape as a character who extends beyond book and film.

   2014 March 3, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions, volume 5, number 1, MDPI, →DOI, pages 219–257

   You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf.

   2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better, Plum, →ISBN, page 192

3. Dealing with subjects about which one wishes (or people usually wish) to maintain privacy or discretion; not for public view; sensitive, intimate.

   personal reasons

   3 more examples

   You can't read my diary—it is personal.

   That's a very personal question.

   I can't believe you went through my drawers and looked at all my personal things!

4. euphemisticIntended for sexual use.

   personal lubricant; personal massager

5. Pertaining to the external or bodily appearance; corporeal; bodily.

   personal charms

   1 more example

   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?

   1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

6. Done in person; without an intermediary.

   personal settings

   3 more examples

   a personal interview

   a personal meeting

   Although you miss the nonverbal cues that you pick up in a personal meeting, you can call far more clients in a day than you can meet with in person.

   2011, Bob Nelson, Peter Economy, Consulting For Dummies

7. Relating to an individual, their character, conduct, motives, or private affairs, in an invidious and offensive manner

   personal reflections or remarks

   1 more example

   Only factual argumentation, no need to get personal.

8. grammarOf a noun or pronoun, having reference particular to humans and other entities having personality such as a named animal, a deity, a personification, etc.
9. grammarRelated to grammatical first, second, etc. persons.

   a personal pronoun

10. Denoting ownership.

    one's personal vehicle, as opposed to a company vehicle

11. lifestyleConstituting a person.

    The conception of earth as a personal being, who revolts against the sin of the dwellers upon it and spurns them from her bosom, is not foreign to the Old Testament.

    1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 83

plural personals · alternative obsolete personall

1. in pluralAn advertisement by which an individual attempts to meet others with similar interests.
2. One's own property or asset

   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.

   1982 April 10, Roosevelt Williamson, “Prison Racism and Legal Slavery in America”, in Gay Community News, page 15

   1 more example

   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.