confide
Americanverb (used without object)
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confides,
present (3rd person singular)
-
confided,
past participle, past
-
confiding
present participle
-
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)
-
confides,
present (3rd person singular)
-
confided,
past participle, past
-
confiding
present participle
verb
-
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
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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confidesimple
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confidessimple
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have confidedperfect
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has confidedperfect
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am confidingprogressive
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are confidingprogressive
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is confidingprogressive
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have been confidingperfect progressive
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has been confidingperfect progressive
Past
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confidedsimple
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had confidedperfect
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was confidingprogressive
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were confidingprogressive
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had been confidingperfect progressive
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.
See Examples For:
“School should be a place where young people can feel safe and confident they can confide in a teacher.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2026
In upcoming episodes, Diane is set to confide in her close friends that she has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer before finding the strength to tell her husband Tony, played by Nick Pickard.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2026
It might be tempting to confide in colleagues that you’re having a hard time connecting with your manager, but that probably isn’t a good idea, Williams says.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 28, 2026
She started to confide in friends about stress, or things that bothered her, which otherwise would have stayed inside.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026
“While for the past month you’ve left Nathan hanging, I have been attempting to give him answers. It’s natural that he should confide in me when he is told such a thing.”
From "Every Day" by David Levithan
In Naiguata, a small coastal town famous for its traditional "dancing devils" festival, Cesar Rendon, 49, a former inmate who lived in the town's halfway house, confides that he "unburdened himself" with Apostol.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
She confides her joy in working there and also tells John that he was abandoned as a baby on the steps of the store.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
"A year ago, I was struggling," she confides.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2025
“I was afraid I would be late too,” he confides, glancing at his watch, “because I had to make a quick stop at Lady Gaga’s.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2025
“The dear little thing,” returned Herbert, “holds dutifully to her father as long as he lasts; but he won’t last long. Mrs. Whimple confides to me that he is certainly going.”
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
"I know who it was," he confided to the man he did not know was recording him.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
His partner confided that he, too, had about $12,000 of credit-card debt and had recently started working with Consolidated Credit, a nonprofit that provides debt-management programs to help people pay down their balances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
After all his travels, he has confided that his favourite place remains Richmond, an affluent and leafy suburb in southwest London.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
I created an imaginary friend, Charlotte, who was the only one I confided in.
From Salon ● May 16, 2001
Only the day before, he confided to a friend that he “will have the fortune of receiving the greatest honor that can be given to a solider, that of dying for his country.”
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Anonymized data flags recurring themes in what congregants are confiding to the bot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
After confiding in a padre - a military chaplain - the 56-year-old says she was reported to bosses and admitted to hospital, where she was held in isolation.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Anthony never married, and she considered herself to some degree Stanton’s amanuensis, confiding to an intimate that she felt that her best work had been “making the way clear” for her friend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
Five years later, the house hit the market again, with the homeowners confiding to Brettler that it was “a very difficult house.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2025
"Nasal drip," Denton Deere whispered, confiding the latest diagnosis to his partner.
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
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.
