confidant

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

noun

1. a close friend or associate to whom secrets are confided or with whom private matters and problems are discussed.

confidant

/ ˌkɒnfɪˈdænt; ˈkɒnfɪˌdænt /

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of confidant¹

1705–15; < French confident < Italian confidente, noun use of adj.; confident

Word History and Origins

Origin of confidant¹

C17: from French confident, from Italian confidente , n use of adj: trustworthy, from Latin confīdens confident

Example Sentences

Some of Giuliani’s closest allies and confidants have not been shy about attacking other conservative leaders for refusing to swoop in during the attorney’s time of need.

From The Daily Beast

Chris Cuomo has long been a key confidant of his brother, regularly advising him about politics, according to people who know both men.

From Washington Post

Abdullah’s regime said Hamzah was in cahoots with Bassem Awadallah, a former finance minister and longtime confidant of the king, and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, another royal family figure, to target “the security and stability of the nation.”

From Vox

The Viennese psychoanalyst reported his discovery in a breathless letter to his colleague and confidant, Wilhelm Fliess.

From Washington Post

We have gathered there as hopeful advocates and confidants when “the boss” was elsewhere.

From Washington Blade

When a top Mobutu confidant named Colonel Alphonse Bangala purchased the island, Lometcha bought shares.

From The Daily Beast

A longtime confidant of and lawyer for Lyndon Johnson, Fortas remained a close advisor after joining the Court.

From The Daily Beast

Inside was Mandelbaum, her twenty-four-year-old son Julius, and her most trusted confidant, Herman Stoude.

From The Daily Beast

Otis Moss, Jr., the noted African-American civil rights leader and confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., concurred.

From The Daily Beast

If the President went through with the appointment, he was counting on his confidant to bust open those particular X-Files.

From The Daily Beast

He was at once banker and confidant of most of the Indians who were getting ahead in agriculture and stock-raising.

From Project Gutenberg

When M. George Spero was announced, she felt that an unknown friend, almost a confidant, had arrived.

From Project Gutenberg

The king and his confidant sprang ashore and walked quickly in the direction of the Pre-aux-Clercs.

From Project Gutenberg

She had wanted to make a confidant of her relative, and had decided that nothing could be more unwise.

From Project Gutenberg

"I was well advised in not making you my confidant sooner, if this is how you take it," cried Miss Chressham angrily.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• acquaintance
• adviser
• companion
• crony

Confidant Vs. Confidante Vs. Confident

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

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. 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 confidant and confident 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 confidant, confidante, and confident.

Quiz yourself on confidant vs. confidante vs. confident!

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

She felt _____ that her entry would win the contest.