confidante

[ kon-fi-dant, -dahnt, kon-fi-dant, -dahnt ]

noun

1. a woman to whom secrets are confided or with whom private matters and problems are discussed.
2. Furniture. confidente.

confidante

/ ˌkɒnfɪˈdænt; ˈkɒnfɪˌdænt /

noun

1. a person, esp a woman, to whom private matters are confided

Word History and Origins

Origin of confidante¹

First recorded in 1700–10, confidante is from the French word confidente

Example Sentences

Vance has been working with various members of his team, including Trump confidante Jason Miller, going over Walz's record as a congressman and governor.

From Salon

Describing Gill as "a friend, colleague and confidante" before her fraud was discovered, she said she felt "totally deceived and betrayed" by her actions, which had caused personal stress and detracted from day-to-day school management.

From BBC

"It's nuts," one Trump confidante told Vanity Fair.

From Salon

Yes, she did describe herself as his best friend, confidante and “silly rabbit.”

From Los Angeles Times

This time around, the focus is less on Durst and his damaged psychology and more on the circle of friends and confidantes who helped him along the way.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• acquaintance
• adviser
• companion
• confidant
• crony

Confidante Vs. Confidant Vs. Confident

What’s the difference between confidante, confidant, and confident?

The word confidante is a gender-specific form of confidant, a noun meaning someone you feel comfortable telling secret or private things to—a person you confide in. Confidante is specifically applied to women. Confident is an adjective that means sure of oneself or one’s abilities, or having a high level of certainty about something.

Very rarely, the word confident can be used as a noun meaning the same thing as confidant, but we’re pretty confident almost no one uses it this way. We’re also sorry to report that there’s a kind of sofa called a confidente that can also be called a confidante, but honestly you’ll be better off if you just forget we ever said anything about it.

Confidant and confidante are borrowed from French, which has grammatical gender, so some words end differently depending on whether they are applied to men or women (with e being the feminine ending). This happens in a few other pairs of words in English, like blond and blonde, though in many cases the term without the e has become largely gender-neutral. This is the case with confidant, which is the more commonly used of the two.

What’s the best way to be confident that you’re using the right word? Just remember that the ending of both confidant and confidante sounds like the more formal pronunciation of aunt—your aunt could be your confidant (as could your commandant, the ending of which also sounds the same).

The ending of confident, on the other hand, sounds like dent.

Here’s an example of confidante and confident used correctly in the same sentence. (The word confidante could be replaced with confidant if you wanted to make the term gender-neutral.)

Example: I am confident that what I confide to my confidante stays confidential. 

Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between confidante, confidant, and confident.

Quiz yourself on confidante vs. confidant vs. confident!

Should confident, confidant, or confidante be used in the following sentence?

She felt _____ that her entry would win the contest.