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personalty

personalty

9.9
Things a person owns that can be moved, not land or buildings
  • noun
  • /ˈpɜrnəltē/
  • Formal
translation icon : bienes muebles
  • Upon her passing, the estate was divided, and all personalty, including artwork and electronics, was appraised.
  • realty and personalty

Examples

  • In legal disputes, personalty refers to items such as furniture, vehicles, and jewelry that can be moved.

  • As James Madison explained, the term "property" included more than realty and personalty, reaching anything of value to someone, including legal rights.

    Academic text (2016)
  • The Framers certainly thought that property was valuable, in part because it was not limited to realty and personalty. To them, "the early legal conception of property extended far beyond physical possessions to encompass the essence of human life."

    Academic text (2016)
  • The liens have super priority; however, only as they apply to the realty, personalty, and business revenues of the contaminated site itself and not to the debtors' other assets that are unrelated to the site.

    Academic text (1993)
  • He claimed ownership of the personalty that was left in the rental unit after the tenant vacated.

Synonyms

private property
vspersonalty
68 2.8

Things you can move, like cars or jewelry, that belong to one person, not land

is the legal word used in law for those movable possessions
personal effects
vspersonalty
33 3.5

Small personal items a person carries, like clothes or jewelry

is broader, covering movable property generally including items used for work
personal property
vspersonalty
  • Specialized
16 3.1

Things a person owns that can be moved, like furniture or jewelry

is the legal term for movable possessions used in law contexts
personal estate
vspersonalty
  • Formal
1 6.1

Things someone owns that can be moved, not land and buildings, like a car or jewelry

is the broader legal idea covering all movable possessions rather than land
personal chattel
vspersonalty
  • Formal
8.2

A thing you own that you can move, like furniture or a car

covers all movable possessions collectively rather than one specific item

Antonyms

490 2.8

Land with buildings on it that people own, like houses or offices

Surface Forms

personalty singular
personalities plural

Morphology

personalty = personal (opaque) = personal + ty

A specialized legal noun meaning 'movable property' is not derivable by a typical learner from 'personal' plus the rare suffix '-ty'.

Etymology

Personalty comes from personal, which comes from person meaning 'a person', plus the ending -ty that turns a describing word into a word for a thing. It means the 'personal things' someone owns, like cars or jewelry, and is the opposite of realty, which means land or buildings.