confident

English

Etymology

From Middle French confident, from Latin confidens (“confident, i.e. self-confident, in a good or bad sense, bold, daring, audacious, impudent”), present participle of confidere (“to trust fully, confide”). See confide.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒnfɪdənt/, [ˈkʰɔɱ.fɪ.dənt], [-dn̩t]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnfɪdənt/, [ˈkʰɑɱ.fə.dənt], [-dn̩t]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧fi‧dent

Adjective

confident (comparative more confident, superlative most confident)

1. Very sure of something; positive.

   I'm pretty confident that she's not lying, she's acting normally.

   He was confident of success.

2. Self-assured, self-reliant, sure of oneself.
3. (obsolete, derogatory) Forward, impudent.
   • 1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Duenna, I.2:

     I was rated as the most confident ruffian, for daring to approach her room at that hour of night.

Synonyms

• (self-confident): self-assured

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “self-confident”): insecure, self-destructive, shy

Related terms

• confidant
• confidante
• confide
• confidence
• confidential
• e-confident
• overconfident
• self-confident

Translations

being very sure of or positive about something

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: وَاثِق m (wāṯiq), مُتَأَكِّد (mutaʔakkid)
• Armenian: վստահ (hy) (vstah)
• Azerbaijani: arxayın
• Belarusian: упэ́ўнены (upéŭnjeny), пэ́ўны (be) (péŭny)
• Bulgarian: си́гурен (bg) (síguren), уве́рен (bg) (uvéren)
• Catalan: confiat
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 確信／确信 (zh) (quèxìn)

• Czech: jistý (cs) m
• Dutch: vol vertrouwen
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: luottavainen (fi), itsevarma (fi)
• French: assuré (fr), confiant (fr), sûr (fr)
• Georgian: დარწმუნებული (darc̣munebuli)
• German: zuversichtlich (de), sicher (de)
• Hebrew: בטוח (he) m (bat'uakh), בטוחה f (bet'ukha)
• Hungarian: bizakodó (hu), biztos (hu)
• Ido: certigeso
• Indonesian: yakin (id)
• Irish: urrúsach
• Italian: fiducioso (it), sicuro (it)
• Japanese: 確信した (ja) (かくしんした, kakushin shita)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 확신하다 (ko) (hwaksinhada)
• Latvian: pārliecināts
• Macedonian: уверен (uveren)
• Maori: ngākau titikaha, māia
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: مطمئن (fa) (motma'en)
• Plautdietsch: driest
• Polish: pewny (pl), pewien (pl), przeświadczony
• Portuguese: confiante (pt), seguro (pt) m
• Romanian: sigur (ro), încrezător (ro)
• Russian: уве́ренный (ru) (uvérennyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: cinnteach, deimhinn, misneachail
• Slovak: istý
• Spanish: confiado (es), seguro de sí mismo
• Swedish: trygg (sv)
• Thai: มั่นใจ (th) (mân-jai)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: впе́внений (vpévnenyj), пе́вний (uk) (pévnyj)
• Vietnamese: tự tin (vi)
• Winnebago: kiikarahi

self-confident — see self-confident

Noun

confident (plural confidents)

1. Obsolete form of confidant.
   • 1684, John Dryden, The History of the League, translation of Histoire de la Ligue by Louis Maimbourg:

     He managed this consultation with exceeding secrecy, admitting only four or five of his confidents, on whom he most relied

1. • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, →OCLC:

     a certain Lawyer , a great Confident of the Rebels

Further reading

• “confident”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “confident”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin cōnfīdēns. In the sense of "courting bench", a semantic loan from French.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kuɱ.fiˈðen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian) [koɱ.fiˈðent]

Adjective

confident m or f (masculine and feminine plural confidents)

1. trusted

Noun

confident m or f by sense (plural confidents)

1. confidant(e)
2. informer

Noun

confident m (plural confidents)

1. tête-à-tête (s-shaped love seat)

Related terms

• confidència
• confidencial

Further reading

• “confident” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.fi.dɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

confident m (plural confidents, feminine confidente)

1. confidant
2. tête-à-tête (love seat in an s-shape)

Related terms

• confidence

Descendants

• → Catalan: confident (calque)

Further reading

• “confident”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

cōnfīdent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of cōnfīdō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French confident.

Noun

confident m (plural confidenți)

1. confidant

Declension

Declension of confident

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) confident	confidentul	(niște) confidenti	confidentii
genitive/dative	(unui) confident	confidentului	(unor) confidenti	confidentilor
vocative	confidentule		confidentilor