privilege

1. 1. A special advantage, immunity, permission, right, or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual, class, or caste. See synonyms at right.
   2. Such an advantage, immunity, or right held as a prerogative of status or rank, and exercised to the exclusion or detriment of others.
2. The principle of granting and maintaining a special right or immunity: a society based on privilege.
3. Law. The right to privileged communication in a confidential relationship, as between client and attorney, patient and physician, or communicant and priest.
4. An option to buy or sell a stock, including put, call, spread, and straddle.

1. To grant a privilege to.
2. To free or exempt.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin prīvilēgium, a law affecting one person : prīvus, single, alone + lēx, lēg-, law.]