Meaning & use
private limited company
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Meanings
nouncountablebusinesslaw
A company whose shares are not sold to the public and whose owners' financial responsibility for its debts is limited by law.
Grammar: Countable: say 'a private limited company' or 'two private limited companies'.
Patterns
- set up a private limited company
- register a private limited company
- a private limited company with limited liability
She turned her freelance work into a private limited company so that her personal savings would be protected.
A private limited company cannot offer its shares on the stock exchange, so it raises money from banks or its owners instead.
The two brothers registered a private limited company and put their names on the paperwork as directors.
nouncountablebusinesslawBritish
The legal status of such a company, often written after its name as 'Ltd' in Britain.
Grammar: Often used with the abbreviation 'Ltd' in a company's official name; in the US, 'LLC' is the usual equivalent.
Patterns
- be registered as a private limited company
- trade as a private limited company
The sign above the shop says 'Harper & Sons Ltd', which shows it is a private limited company.
If you trade as a private limited company, your business name must include 'Ltd' or 'Limited' at the end.
Word forms
| plural | private limited companies |
|---|
Common combinations
- set up a private limited company
- They set up a private limited company as soon as the orders started coming in.
- a private limited company with shares
- A private limited company with shares can bring in new investors without going public.
- register a private limited company
- You must register a private limited company with the authorities before you start trading.
- the directors of a private limited company
- The directors of a private limited company are named in the official records.
- convert to a private limited company
- The partnership decided to convert to a private limited company last year.
Synonyms and how they differ
- limited company
- A broader term that also covers public limited companies, so it does not always mean the shares are kept private.
- Ltd
- The short form written after a British company's name; it signals the same legal status but is not used on its own in a sentence.
- LLC
- The American equivalent; use it for US companies, not for British ones.
Opposites
Word family
- limited liability noun
- The legal protection that keeps owners from losing more than they invested.
- incorporate verb
- To form a company as a separate legal body, which is the step that creates one of these.
- incorporation noun
- The act or process of forming a company in this way.
- shareholder noun
- A person who owns part of a company.
Commonly confused: private limited company or public limited company? private limited company or partnership?
private limited company vs public limited company
A public limited company can sell its shares to anyone on the stock market, while a private limited company cannot.
private limited company vs partnership
A partnership has no separate legal identity and its owners are personally responsible for debts; a private limited company limits that responsibility.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'private limited company' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Option A fits because the main reason people choose this structure is to limit personal responsibility for debts. Option D is wrong because selling shares to the public is what a public limited company does, and option B describes the same mistake.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “private limited company”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.