confidentiality
Americannoun
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confidentialities
plural
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the quality or fact of being confidential, private, or restricted to certain parties, usually by agreement or formal requirement.
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something confidential or private; confidence.
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a rule or expectation within a particular field of activity that the restriction of private information is to be respected.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Explanation
Confidentiality is what you observe when you keep things secret. If you happen to be a mafia boss with lots of dark secrets, you'll want to be sure you can count on complete confidentiality from your wife and family. Confidentiality is important not just to people involved in illegal activities. You expect your close friends and family to keep your secrets — you count on their confidentiality. Confidentiality might also apply to your job — if your company is working on a new computer game, confidentiality is essential to prevent leaks to your competitors. The word confidentiality includes the Latin root fides, which means "faith," or "trust."
Vocabulary lists containing confidentiality
Journalism
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United States v. Nixon (1974)
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Words with 15 or More Letters, 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.
See Examples For:
The officers were all required to sign a confidentiality agreement that barred them from discussing candidates’ personal information with anyone outside the office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
She declined to share more information because she had signed a confidentiality agreement with the New Jersey-based drugmaker.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Because of confidentiality provisions and the private nature of these disputes, there is plenty we don’t know about how common fights like this one are—or how they’re resolved.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
NHS Tayside previously said: "Due to patient confidentiality, we cannot discuss matters relating to an individual patient."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Even recognizing there was doctor-patient confidentiality, she wanted to be careful about what she put on paper.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
The lawyers said her role was to "ensure the club's established and robust safeguarding structures, procedures and necessary confidentialities were followed and respected throughout".
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
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.
