confident
OTHER WORDS FOR confident
Origin of confident
OTHER WORDS FROM confident
WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH confident
confidant, confidante, confidentWords nearby confident
CONFIDENT VS. CONFIDANT VS. CONFIDANTE
Whatâs the difference between confident, confidant, and confidante?
Confident is an adjective that means sure of oneself or oneâs abilities, or having a high level of certainty about something. Confidant is a noun meaning someone you feel comfortable telling secret or private things toâa person you confide in. The word confidante is a gender-specific form of confidant thatâs applied to women.
Very rarely, the word confident can be used as a noun meaning the same thing as confidant, but weâre pretty confident almost no one uses it this way. Weâre also sorry to report that thereâs a kind of sofa called a confidente that can also be called a confidante, but honestly youâll 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.
Whatâs the best way to be confident that youâre using the right word? Just remember that the ending of both confidant and confidante sounds like the more formal pronunciation of auntâyour 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.
Hereâs an example of confident and confidant 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.Â
Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between confident, confidant, and confidante.
Quiz yourself on confident vs. confidant vs. confidante!
Should confident, confidant, or confidante be used in the following sentence?
She felt _____ that her entry would win the contest.
WHEN TO USE
What are other ways to say confident?
The adjective confident means âhaving strong belief or full assurance.â How does confident compare to synonyms certain, sure, and positive? Find out on Thesaurus.com.