confide
Americanverb (used without object)
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to impart secrets trustfully; discuss private matters or problems (usually followed byin ).
She confides in no one but her husband.
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to have full trust; have faith.
They confided in their own ability.
verb (used with object)
verb
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to disclose (secret or personal matters) in confidence (to); reveal in private (to)
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to have complete trust
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(tr) to entrust into another's keeping
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have confidedperfect
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has confidedperfect 3rd person singular
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are confidingprogressive
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is confidingprogressive 3rd person singular
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confidessingular 3rd person
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am confidingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been confidingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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confidingparticiple
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have been confidingperfect progressive
Past
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had confidedperfect
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had been confidingperfect progressive
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confidedparticiple
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were confidingprogressive plural
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confidedsimple
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was confidingprogressive singular
Future
Etymology
Origin of confide
First recorded in 1625–35; from Latin confīdere, from con- con- + fīdere “to trust” (akin to fidēs “faith, trust”; see fidelity)
Explanation
To confide in someone is to tell them something privately. We confide in people we trust. We all have secrets and subjects that are hard to talk about. When we want to talk about something sensitive, we look for someone to confide in: a person we trust not to blab about our business to the rest of the world. Most people confide in close friends or family, often to get advice. If you tell someone a secret, and then they tell ten of their friends, you made a mistake by confiding in that person.
Vocabulary lists containing confide
"Of Mice and Men"
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List 15
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Bronx Masquerade
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even during her ill-fated "indie years", fans snapped up experimental and wayward songs like Confide In Me and the Nick Cave duet Where The Wild Roses Grow.
From BBC • Oct. 9, 2024
"Confide in someone close to you about what you’re going through. Be transparent and find that safe place where you can talk without judgment. Get out of your bedroom and verbalize it."
From Fox News • Mar. 19, 2019
Hawley also launched an investigation last year after The Kansas City Star reported Greitens and some of his staff had Confide accounts.
From Seattle Times • May 3, 2018
The Confide app deletes messages as soon as they are read.
From Washington Post • Feb. 4, 2018
Confide the whole story to your dear mother.
From Etheldreda the Ready A School Story by Horrell, Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
