confident
Americanadjective
-
having strong belief or full assurance; sure.
confident of fulfillment.
-
sure of oneself; having no uncertainty about one's own abilities, correctness, successfulness, etc.; self-confident; bold.
a confident speaker.
- Synonyms:
- intrepid, assured, self-reliant
-
excessively bold; presumptuous.
-
Obsolete. trustful or confiding.
noun
adjective
-
having or showing confidence or certainty; sure
confident of success
-
sure of oneself; bold
-
presumptuous; excessively bold
Usage
What are other ways to say confident?
The adjective confident means “having strong belief or full assurance.” How does confident compare to synonyms certain, sure, and positive? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
- confidently adverb
- hyperconfident adjective
- hyperconfidently adverb
- nonconfident adjective
- nonconfidently adverb
- quasi-confident adjective
- quasi-confidently adverb
- superconfident adjective
- superconfidently adverb
- ultraconfident adjective
- unconfident adjective
- unconfidently adverb
Etymology
Origin of confident
First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin confīdent- (stem of confīdēns ), present participle of confīdere. See confide, -ent
Explanation
If you're confident you are sure about something, someone, or yourself. He was confident he could keep his balance and cross the river on the skinny log, but he wasn't so confident that the log was strong enough to hold him. Confident is often a word of assurance. Someone may ask, "Are you sure that's the right way to do it?" and then, just to be assured, they might say, "So, you're confident that's the right wire to cut so the bomb doesn't blow?" Being really sure of something or being sure of yourself is being confident. "He held his head high, but not in an arrogant or show-off way; he was just confident about who he was. He liked himself."
Vocabulary lists containing confident
In the Mood? 100 Words to Describe Emotions
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Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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Hooked on a Feeling, List 3
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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.
"If I get arrested, I feel very confident that if I stand up in court with the right guidance and say 'this was an unlawful arrest and, therefore, I don't accept it'."
From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026
The Lakers are 52-29 and are confident they’ll be ready to face any opponent in the playoffs.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2026
"Although we were confident in our strategy, the results were striking," says Matija Trickovic.
From Science Daily • Apr. 9, 2026
“We’re grateful the court recognized these issues need to be resolved quickly and remain confident the courts will ultimately agree that these supply-chain designations were unlawful,” an Anthropic spokeswoman said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
She tried to make her face into something confident and un-concerned.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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.
