confident

English

Etymology

From Middle French confident, from Latin confidens (“confident, i.e. self-confident, in a good or bad sense, bold, daring, audacious, impudent”), present participle of confidere (“to trust fully, confide”). See confide.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒnfɪdənt/, ,
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnfɪdənt/, ,

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧fi‧dent

Adjective

confident (comparative more confident, superlative most confident)

1. Very sure of something; positive.

   I'm pretty confident that she's not lying, she's acting normally.

   He was confident of success.

2. Self-assured, self-reliant, sure of oneself.
3. (obsolete, derogatory) Forward, impudent.
   • 1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Duenna, I.2:

     I was rated as the most confident ruffian, for daring to approach her room at that hour of night.

Synonyms

• (self-confident): self-assured

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "self-confident"): insecure, self-destructive, shy

Related terms

• confidant
• confidante
• confide
• confidence
• confidential
• e-confident
• overconfident
• self-confident

Translations

Noun

confident (plural confidents)

1. Obsolete form of confidant.
   • 1684, John Dryden, The History of the League, translation of Histoire de la Ligue by Louis Maimbourg:

     He managed this consultation with exceeding secrecy, admitting only four or five of his confidents, on whom he most relied

1. • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: J Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, , published 1727, →OCLC:

     a certain Lawyer , a great Confident of the Rebels

Further reading

• “confident”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “confident”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin cōnfīdēns. In the sense of "courting bench", a semantic loan from French.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian)

Adjective

confident m or f (masculine and feminine plural confidents)

1. trusted

Noun

confident m or f by sense (plural confidents)

1. confidant(e)
2. informer

Noun

confident m (plural confidents)

1. tête-à-tête (s-shaped love seat)

Related terms

• confidència
• confidencial

Further reading

• “confident” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.fi.dɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

confident m (plural confidents, feminine confidente)

1. confidant
2. tête-à-tête (love seat in an s-shape)

Related terms

• confidence

Descendants

• → Catalan: confident (calque)

Further reading

• “confident”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Latin

Verb

cōnfīdent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of cōnfīdō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French confident.

Noun

confident m (plural confidenți)

1. confidant

Declension