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confident
[ kon-fi-duhnt ]
adjective
- having strong belief or full assurance; sure:
confident of fulfillment.
- sure of oneself; having no uncertainty about one's own abilities, correctness, successfulness, etc.; self-confident; bold:
a confident speaker.
Synonyms: intrepid, assured, self-reliant
- excessively bold; presumptuous.
- Obsolete. trustful or confiding.
noun
- a confidant.
confident
/ ˈkɒnfɪdənt /
adjective
- postpositivefoll byof having or showing confidence or certainty; sure
confident of success
- sure of oneself; bold
- presumptuous; excessively bold
Derived Forms
- ˈconfidently, adverb
Other Words From
- confi·dent·ly adverb
- hyper·confi·dent adjective
- hyper·confi·dent·ly adverb
- non·confi·dent adjective
- non·confi·dent·ly adverb
- quasi-confi·dent adjective
- quasi-confi·dent·ly adverb
- super·confi·dent adjective
- super·confi·dent·ly adverb
- ultra·confi·dent adjective
- un·confi·dent adjective
- un·confi·dent·ly adverb
Word History and Origins
Origin of confident1
Word History and Origins
Origin of confident1
Example Sentences
People put their money in a bank only because they are very confident that they can get it back if needed.
Whether you’re a novice looking to buff up redeye-making skills or confident making a macchiato, most machines will be able to meet you where you are.
When the testing was over, many recruits said they had been confident they heard a true difference between sick and healthy coughs and sneezes.
The customer made it clear that if we couldn’t develop this capability they’d be less confident in our product.
By the time we had enough years of data to actually test the hypotheses and put out studies that we’re really confident in, there was a really established “Ban the Box” lobby.
Farenthold denies all the allegations and is confident that he will “be cleared of any wrongdoing.”
Somebody else suggests that the evidence is precarious, coming as it does from victims who might not make confident witnesses.
Yet Lohse is confident that the reader will take his actions as the fruits of selfless moral courage.
The friendly aura vanished, her eyes dead, voice robotic and confident she was correct.
They were confident that there would be more votes for it next year.
Things looked anxious for a bit, but by this morning's dawn all are dug in, cool, confident.
Very trim and strong, and confident he looked, with the glow of youth in his cheeks, and the spark of happiness in his gray eyes.
Each day he was sending serenely confident telegrams to Calcutta and receiving equally reassuring ones from a fatuous Viceroy.
So did my versatile friend, joyously confident in his powers, start on his glorious career as a private detective.
But her sympathy, and her confident belief that Alessandro might yet be found, gave unspeakable cheer to Felipe.
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Confident Vs. Confidant Vs. Confidante
What’s the difference between confident, confidant, and confidante?
Confident is an adjective that means sure of oneself or one’s abilities, or having a high level of certainty about something. Confidant is a noun meaning someone you feel comfortable telling secret or private things to—a person you confide in. The word confidante is a gender-specific form of confidant that’s applied to women.
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 confident and confidant used correctly in the same sentence. (The word confidant could be replaced with confidante if you were referring to a woman and wanted to make the term gender-specific.)
Example: I am confident that what I confide to my confidant stays confidential.
Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between confident, confidant, and confidante.
Quiz yourself on confident vs. confidant vs. confidante!
Should confident, confidant, or confidante be used in the following sentence?
She felt _____ that her entry would win the contest.
When To Use
What are other ways to say confident?
The adjective confident means “having strong belief or full assurance.” How does confident compare to synonyms certain, sure, and positive? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
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