Definition of "private citizen" [private citizen]

• A citizen who does not hold any official or public position (noun)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "The first and only official to offer an apology was counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke, who, when he appeared as a private citizen in 2004 before the 9/11 Commission, opened his remarks by addressing the families of victims sitting in the audience, saying, Your government failed you."
• "Enlightened self-interest; if the corporations and bureaucracies could get away with calling selfishness that, surely a private citizen could try it on for size."
• "He persuaded leading cardinals to commission works from him and inspired Agostino Chigi, a prominent banker and probably the richest private citizen in Italy, to employ him to decorate his villa at Trastevere."