confide
Americanverb (used without object)
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confides,
present (3rd person singular)
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confided,
past participle, past
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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)
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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:
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
That makes it hard for the holiday villain to visit sick kids in the hospital, as legions of Santas do every year, or comfort children who confide in him about bullying.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 25, 2025
“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
Throughout the series, M confides in the camera, an unusual technique that draws its inspiration from Jonas’ theater background.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
"He is a very nice man, but he is a hard man too," one of them confides.
From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2025
Bone-boy confides in me that he makes up most of his readings—but he’s vague enough that it all can be interpreted to be true by someone who really wants it to be.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Despite being incredibly upset, Emma did not report the doctor to police and instead confided in her husband.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 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
A struggling writer-actor-production assistant, he confided that he had looked up my name on IMDb and noticed that I was a producer.
From Los Angeles Times ● 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
Maybe it’s the darkness or the fact that she confided in me.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
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
Ms. Applegate has a smoky, confiding voice that swings along but shifts register when the material warrants it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
Davis agreed, confiding that he’d previously told the “Two People Exchanging Saliva” team “in confidence, that if we lost, I hope we lost to them.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2026
That debate is now coming for the AI companies that power the chatbots to which people are confiding the most intimate details of their private thoughts and lives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
Once she even overheard Maester Tothmure's serving girl confiding to her brother about some message that said Joffrey was a bastard and not the rightful king at all.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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.
