intimate vs personal vs private

Question

Could you please help me when should I use each of them?

Captainladyace · Accepted Answer

I am a US native English speaker; I hope this helps!

'Intimate' has a few general uses. An intimate setting involves somewhere that is usually confined, alone with the other person (or perhaps alone in a crowd), but you feel connected to the other person. Intimate conversations involve revelations of deep, dark secrets, generally.

'Intimates' is another word for lingerie, and 'to be intimate' with someone is a euphemism for ***. This is a nice way of putting it, usually involving a committed relationship, and is not in any way a swear word, usually used by the upper and middle classes of society.

Personal, and private are very similar, and are more of an effect of degrees. Personal information is usually identifying information, for example, who your mother is, whereas private information involves things you would never want another person knowing, for example your bank account passwords. Your 'private life' is things you do outside of your work that your coworkers usually don't know, like your hobbies. They are, however, fairly interchangeable.

A diary is a private thing holding personal information. How embarrassed you would be if someone used the information against you is a good way of determining degree.

Again, hoped this helped!

USF · Answer

Thanks a lot, dear captainladyace. Your explanations were excellent and helpful. I think I got the differences. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

intimate vs personal vs private

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