Showing results for "confidante"

• a variation of confidente.

confidante

American  

[kon-fi-dant, -dahnt, kon-fi-dant, -dahnt] / ˌkɒn fɪˈdænt, -ˈdɑnt, ˈkɒn fɪˌdænt, -ˌdɑnt /

noun

• confidantes
  plural

1. a woman to whom secrets are confided or with whom private matters and problems are discussed.

2. Furniture. confidente.

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confidante British  

/ ˌkɒnfɪˈdænt, ˈkɒnfɪˌdænt /

noun

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

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Usage

What’s the difference between confidante, confidant, and confident? The word confidante is a gender-specific form of confidant, a noun meaning someone you feel comfortable telling secret or private things to—a person you confide in. Confidante is specifically 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 confidante and confident used correctly in the same sentence. (The word confidante could be replaced with confidant if you wanted to make the term gender-neutral.)Example: I am confident that what I confide to my confidante stays confidential. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between confidante, confidant, and confident.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• confidantes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of confidante

First recorded in 1700–10, confidante is from the French word confidente

Explanation

If you're a confidante, two things must be true: you have to be female, and you must be someone who people feel comfortable telling secrets to. If you have a confidante, you're lucky. She is a friend you can confide in, someone you trust with your private thoughts, and who you're sure can keep a secret. If your trusted friend is male, you call him your confidant. In fact, you could call a male or a female "secret keeper" your confidant (without the "e"). Both versions of the word come from the same root as confident — which you can trace back to the Latin word meaning "to trust or confide," confidentem.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

confidante confidantes

The party's new leader, Gavin Robinson, who had been a confidante of Donaldson, chose his language carefully, saying there should have been more "cautious realism" about promoting the deal.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

One scene in particular, in which Coley explores Sonya’s room, touching everything, hums with the strange excitement of being a specially invited new confidante.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026

King’s confidante is credited with helping the civil-rights leader draft the famous 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026

Myanmar campaigners denounced on Tuesday US lobbyist Roger Stone, a close confidante of President Donald Trump, for accepting $50,000 a month to "rebuild" the Southeast Asian government's relations with Washington.

From Barron's ● May 5, 2026

It was all a ruse, so Jule would see Noa as a confidante, not an adversary.

From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart

The mayor would later tell confidantes that he didn’t foresee the blowback, and he would do it differently if he could.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Few people then, not even Carpenter’s closest confidantes, knew how to talk about what was actually an eating disorder, much less manage it.

From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026

He was found to have been staying near his hometown of Castelvetrano in western Sicily, his fugitive lifestyle facilitated by his sister and close confidantes.

From Barron's ● May 28, 2026

"He said he could still give executive orders and accomplish a lot. He told me not to worry", said Linton, a conservative politician and one of the president's close confidantes at the time.

From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2025

They were the best confidantes for a lonely little girl.

From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat

Related Words

• acquaintance
• adviser
• companion
• confidant
• crony