confident

[ kon-fi-duhnt ]

adjective

1. having strong belief or full assurance; sure:

   confident of fulfillment.

   Synonyms: positive, certain

2. 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

   Antonyms: diffident, modest

3. excessively bold; presumptuous.
4. Obsolete. trustful or confiding.

noun

1. a confidant.

confident

/ ˈkɒnfɪdənt /

adjective

1. postpositivefoll byof having or showing confidence or certainty; sure

   confident of success

2. sure of oneself; bold
3. presumptuous; excessively bold

Derived Forms

• ˈconfidently, adverb

Other Words From

• confi·dent·ly adverb
• hyper·confi·dent adjective
• hyper·confi·dent·ly adverb
• non·confi·dent adjective
• non·confi·dent·ly adverb
• quasi-confi·dent adjective
• quasi-confi·dent·ly adverb
• super·confi·dent adjective
• super·confi·dent·ly adverb
• ultra·confi·dent adjective
• un·confi·dent adjective
• un·confi·dent·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of confident¹

First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin confīdent- (stem of confīdēns ), present participle of confīdere. See confide, -ent

Word History and Origins

Origin of confident¹

C16: from Latin confīdens trusting, having self-confidence, from confīdere to have complete trust in; see confide

Example Sentences

They said they were not confident that the bikes would be reused as bikes.

From BBC

I am, personally, sceptical of the idea of politics being a horse race - I've read too many confident predictions about the state of it that proved to be a nonsense.

From BBC

“That is what election officials are going to prioritize. It makes sense they’re doing things in a way that they feel confident in.”

From Los Angeles Times

I am utterly certain and very confident that this team wants to win.

From Los Angeles Times

Before hosting Juventus, defender Emily Fox said the team are "very confident" and "feel together" after their recent run of form.

From BBC

Related Words

• assured
• certain
• convinced
• positive
• sure

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.