How to Use privet in a Sentence

privet

noun
Definition of privetnext
  • Japanese privet grows to be 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide.
    — Neil Sperry, star-telegram, 1 June 2018
  • Behind the privet hedge, besides the daffodils There’s pansies, thyme, and rosemary.
    — Hannah Aizenman, The New Yorker, 17 Dec. 2019
  • These are places of extreme privilege, but inside the privet hedge the story that unfolds is the same one that unfolds inside chain link.
    — Lesley Finn, Longreads, 7 July 2022
  • And what garden is complete without a towering privet hedge and palm trees!
    — Kathleen Hackett, House Beautiful, 30 Aug. 2017
  • Baby Doe had played among the pines and oaks of New England; she was dusted with traces of privet hedges and cedar-of-Lebanon, which are not native but are often planted in the suburbs.
    — Zoë Schlanger, Quartz, 6 June 2019
  • The result is a forest that once again is able to flourish, where the beauty of the cottonwoods, hickories, elms, ash and pecans isn’t choked by the aggressive privet.
    — Sharon Grigsby, Dallas News, 1 Oct. 2021
  • This is our state as it once was, not as most of it is today, all covered up in thickets of lesser oaks and holly and Chinese privet so dense that light no longer reaches the ground.
    — Ben Raines, AL.com, 17 Oct. 2017
  • Greenery such as eucalyptus leaves, privet berries, and pieris relate to the virescent forms on each book cover.
    — Jennifer Fernandez, ELLE Decor, 27 Apr. 2017
  • In the forest, privet occupies one million acres of timberland, and is the second most invasive plant.
    — Jefferson County Cooperative Extension, AL.com, 29 Mar. 2018
  • The branches become smothered in frothy, white blooms which, unfortunately, smell very much like privet blooms.
    — Washington Post, 5 June 2019
  • Today the trash is gone, as is most of the invasive Chinese privet, a nasty undergrowth that overwhelms native trees and vegetation.
    — Sharon Grigsby, Dallas News, 1 Oct. 2021
  • On a handsome terrace a few miles east, an ordinary privet has been transformed into an ocean liner, complete with cresting wave.
    — Kieran Dodds; Text By Peter Ross, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Oct. 2020
  • Earth smells and the pungency of privet and balsam were still acute at this hour, unmingled; the shadows were as bold as in a child’s picture book; swifts and house martins tracked across the pale sky overhead, shrilling in thrilled anticipation.
    — Tessa Hadley, The New Yorker, 21 Oct. 2019
  • Poisoning privet isn’t an option in a floodplain; instead it’s been carefully removed by hand.
    — Sharon Grigsby, Dallas News, 1 Oct. 2021
  • My fallen-from-grace list includes the Japanese tree lilac (a winner in 1996), once presented convincingly to me as an ethereal cloud of white blossoms but now, to my eyes, not much more than a privet bush on a stick.
    — Adrian Higgins, Washington Post, 1 Jan. 2020
  • Or use plants like boxwood, privet, laurel and Japanese holly (Ilex crenata) that respond well to shearing into spheres, squares or other shapes.
    — OregonLive.com, 24 Feb. 2018
  • This happens with goldspot and golden euonymus and with variegated privet.
    — Neil Sperry, star-telegram, 16 Aug. 2017
  • Intensely private behind their walls of privet, genteel and yes, primarily gentile, the club system continues to thrive in the Hamptons, in spite of the headwinds of social change or supposed dearth of clubbable types.
    — Steven Stolman, Town & Country, 13 June 2018
  • Residents last month voted to approve topless sunbathing on all public and private beaches, a move that promises to bring a dash of European abandon to an enclave better known for preppies and privet hedges.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 5 June 2022
  • Florida privet, Forestiera segregata, can be employed as a privacy hedge, and has the native advantage.
    — Kenneth Setzer, miamiherald, 27 June 2018
  • To create hedges, Ms. Johnsen suggests using traditional privet and arborvitaes combined with trees such as the deer-resistant copper beech, which can grow into a type of vegetative screening.
    — Hannah Selinger, WSJ, 19 Nov. 2020
  • Wilson’s second wife, Edith, oversaw the plot’s transformation into a sophisticated rose garden with clipped privet hedges.
    — Meryl Gordon, Vanities, 22 Sep. 2017
  • Antique silver vessels from Chezar’s Zonneveld Farm were filled with white roses of every variety, accompanied by lily of the valley, ranunculus, tulips, and surprising elements such as blue berries of privet and viburnum.
    — Alexandra MacOn, Vogue, 6 June 2018
  • This is Japanese privet, otherwise known as Japanese ligustrum.
    — Neil Sperry, ExpressNews.com, 11 June 2020
  • Our creek-side hardwood bottoms are highly susceptible to privet infestations.
    — Jefferson County Cooperative Extension, AL.com, 29 Mar. 2018
  • Spray plants, such as camellia, holly, gardenia, magnolia and privet, with horticultural oil sprays to control infestations.
    — NOLA.com, 28 Oct. 2017
  • Other troublemakers found for sale may include Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) and Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica).
    — Kenneth Setzer, miamiherald, 20 Apr. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'privet.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: