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  1. confidence love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Trust or faith in a person or thing.
  2. n. A trusting relationship: I took them into my confidence.
  3. n. That which is confided; a secret: A friend does not betray confidences.
  4. n. A feeling of assurance that a confidant will keep a secret: I am telling you this in strict confidence.
  5. n. A feeling of assurance, especially of self-assurance.
  6. n. The state or quality of being certain: I have every confidence in your ability to succeed.
  7. adj. Of, relating to, or involving a swindle or fraud: a confidence scheme; a confidence trickster.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Assurance of mind or firm belief in the good will, integrity, stability, or veracity of another, or in the truth or certainty of a proposition or an assertion; trust; reliance.
  2. n. Reliance on one's own powers, resources, or circumstances; belief in one's own competency; self-reliance; assurance.
  3. n. That in which trust is placed; ground of trust; one who or that which gives assurance or security.
  4. n. Boldness; courage; disregard or defiance of danger.
  5. n. A secret; a private or confidential communication: as, to exchange confidences.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Self-assurance.
  2. n. Expression or feeling of certainty.
  3. n. The quality of trusting.
  4. n. Information held in secret.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The act of confiding, trusting, or putting faith in; trust; reliance; belief; -- formerly followed by of, now commonly by in.
  2. n. That in which faith is put or reliance had.
  3. n. The state of mind characterized by one's reliance on himself, or his circumstances; a feeling of self-sufficiency; such assurance as leads to a feeling of security; self-reliance; -- often with self prefixed.
  4. n. Private conversation; (pl.) secrets shared.
  5. n. Trustful; without fear or suspicion; frank; unreserved.
  6. n. Having self-reliance; bold; undaunted.
  7. n. Having an excess of assurance; bold to a fault; dogmatical; impudent; presumptuous.
  8. n. rare Giving occasion for confidence.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities
  2. n. a trustful relationship
  3. n. a secret that is confided or entrusted to another
  4. n. a state of confident hopefulness that events will be favorable
  5. n. a feeling of trust (in someone or something)

Etymologies

  1. Latin confidentia > confidere > con- + fidere > fides (Wiktionary)

Examples

  • “To kiss the handsomest woman in the party, to pay her a compliment in some extempore effusion, or to whisper a confidence (_faire une confidence_) in her ear -- all these are hardly enjoined before they are happily accomplished.”

    Travels in France during the years 1814-15 Comprising a residence at Paris, during the stay of the allied armies, and at Aix, at the period of the landing of Bonaparte, in two volumes.

  • “But I haste to the qualifications of this divine work, — fervency, reverence, and confidence; _fervency_ in crying, _reverence and confidence_ in crying, “Abba, Father;” for these two suit well toward our”

    The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

  • “The first distinction to be made is that, in parliamentary governments, the head of the government__for whom there are various different official titles such as prime minister, premier, chancellor and his or her cabinet are dependent upon the confidence of the legislature and can be dismissed from the office by a legislative vote of ´no confidence´ or censure.”

    American Chronicle

  • “_implicit confidence_, we do not thereby indicate any specific _kind_ of faith and confidence differing from other faith or other confidence: but it is a vague rhetorical word which expresses a great _degree_ of faith and confidence; a faith that is unquestioning, a confidence that is unlimited; _i. e._ in fact, a faith that _is_ a faith, a confidence that”

    Note Book of an English Opium-Eater

  • “Though as yet we had never had a personal interview, he, nevertheless, corresponded with me with great frankness and confidence; which _confidence_, I beg him to make himself perfectly satisfied, shall never be basely betrayed by me, even if he should behave to me worse than he already has done; even if he should employ his hopeful paid agent Cleary to read upon the hustings a private letter a day, for the remainder of his life.”

    Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. — Volume 2

  • “The first term is the word confidence itself, the topic of this chapter.”

    Simon & Schuster: Make Yourself Unforgettable

  • “As Reagan understood them: "We seek to reduce nuclear arsenals and to reduce the chances for dangerous misunderstanding and miscalculations, so we have put forward proposals for what we call confidence-building measures.”

    The Huffington Post: Joe Cirincione: Reagan the Abolitionist

  • “This confidence is a big part of the thrill of reading him, but also why some people don't like him.”

    A Conversation with Damion Searls about Thoreau's Journal

  • “I have every confidence that you have the will, the determination and the application to achieve the most demanding of ambitions – and the reason for my confidence is your own self-doubt.”

    The Guardian: Dear Jeremy

  • “Visual artists call it confidence of line; we call it narrative authority.”

    and his sister's weird. she drives a lorry.

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synonyms (18)

Words with the same meaning

  1. assurance
  2. expectation
  3. trust
  1. hope
  2. reliance
  3. belief
  1. self-reliance
  2. trustful
  3. frank
  1. unreserved
  2. bold
  3. undaunted
  1. dogmatical
  2. impudent
  3. presumptuous
  1. communication
  2. privacy
  3. secret

hypernyms (6)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. certainty
  1. friendly relationship
  1. friendship
  1. secret
  1. hopefulness
  1. security

same context (31)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. courage
  2. faith
  3. pride
  4. enthusiasm
  5. satisfaction
  6. trust
  1. happiness
  2. dignity
  3. strength
  4. assurance
  5. attention
  6. intelligence
  1. patience
  2. desire
  3. sorrow
  4. astonishment
  5. its
  6. cousin
  1. extenso
  2. conviction
  3. next
  4. maid
  5. presence
  6. nose
  1. experience
  2. stead
  3. gentleman-farmer
  4. philosophy
  5. determination
  6. dancing
  1. apposition

rhymes (1)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. self-confidence

reverse dictionary (205)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. sting operation
  2. con
  3. self-confidence
  4. assurance
  5. rely
  6. aver
  7. self-possession
  8. aplomb
  9. confidence
  10. trust
  11. commit
  12. confidential
  13. credence
  14. faith
  15. fiducially
  16. fiduciary
  17. intrust
  18. encourage
  19. encouragement
  20. insecurity
  21. insinuating
  22. insinuative
  23. to look in the face
  24. elate
  25. fiance
  26. disarming
  27. discard
  28. discouragement
  29. discredit
  30. distrust
  31. distrustful
  32. distrusting
  33. dogmatize
  34. dollar bill
  35. doubt
  36. implicitly
  37. jeremy diddler
  38. diffidence
  39. diffident
  40. leadership
  41. commune
  1. compliment
  2. confide
  3. confidently
  4. con game
  5. credential
  6. credible
  7. hesitating
  8. hope
  9. disconfidence
  10. timorously
  11. treachery
  12. trustiness
  13. trustingly
  14. trustworthy
  15. unbosom
  16. unconfidence
  17. ungrounded
  18. untrusty
  19. verily
  20. believe
  21. bluff
  22. to boast one's self
  23. bunko
  24. misgiving
  25. misplace
  26. mistrust
  27. mistrustful
  28. morale
  29. overconfidence
  30. overtrust
  31. overweeningness
  32. plerophory
  33. positiveness
  34. presumptuously
  35. reliant
  36. relier
  37. sanguinely
  38. self-confidently
  39. self-distrust
  40. self-sufficient
  41. skin-game
  1. blow
  2. PEQUEÑOS
  3. confidence game
  4. unsure
  5. blue chip
  6. assuredness
  7. assuring
  8. audacity
  9. avowable
  10. full-hearted
  11. assuringly
  12. betrust
  13. bield
  14. bolden
  15. brassily
  16. conciliatory
  17. confidentness
  18. confiding
  19. confirmance
  20. consistently
  21. dearness
  22. diffide
  23. disgallant
  24. distrustfulness
  25. hardily
  26. inter nos
  27. despondency
  28. demoralize
  29. disappoint
  30. erosion
  31. surely
  32. timid
  33. self-assured
  34. reassure
  35. encouraging
  36. presuming
  37. treacherous
  38. treason
  39. reliance
  40. self-trust
  41. psych-out
  1. right stuff
  2. incertitude
  3. self-command
  4. confidence limit
  5. affiance
  6. affirm
  7. assure
  8. belief
  9. betray
  10. between ourselves
  11. breach of faith
  12. cheek
  13. commend
  14. communion
  15. confidentially
  16. credit
  17. depend
  18. dependence
  19. discourage
  20. estrange
  21. expect
  22. face
  23. fair
  24. faithful
  25. fool
  26. forwardness
  27. trusted
  28. trustworthiness
  29. unassertive
  30. unassured
  31. untrustiness
  32. untrustworthiness
  33. vaulting
  34. WIMP
  35. grift
  36. confidence man
  37. con man
  38. assured
  39. self-doubt
  40. bunco
  41. capper
  1. call
  2. certitude
  3. courage
  4. give
  5. stock
  6. security
  7. radiate
  8. stagger
  9. overconfident
  10. overreaching
  11. reassurance
  12. reassured
  13. reassuring
  14. rely on
  15. rely upon
  16. secret
  17. self-confident
  18. sure
  19. suspect
  20. swear
  21. tell
  22. uncertain
  23. view
  24. authority
  25. bank
  26. between
  27. buffalo
  28. carry
  29. certain
  30. confident
  31. psych
  32. dent
  33. disarm
  34. mooch
  35. erode
  36. falter
  37. opinion
  38. quality
  39. surface
  40. sound
  41. stroke

tags (4)

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  1. The Wørd
  1. often misspelled
  1. 12x12
  1. cvccvcvccv

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Comments

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  • sonofgroucho Go Confidently Jul 6, 2008

  • slumry Yes, I think second guessing is very concrete, and leads to dithering. One may accept doubt without feeling compelled to act on it. Jul 10, 2007

  • reesetee Interesting also is the difference between "second guessing" and "doubting." To me, the latter always implied a less immediate, more diffuse sort of uncertainty. Jul 10, 2007

  • slumry Well, I think the idea is that the surgeon will inevitably have to make life or death decisions, often quickly. S/he has no time to ponder. The decision, of course, will be made on the basis of experience, knowledge and evidence, but there is no time for second guessing or doubt. Once a decision is made, it must be acted upon.

    Personally, I do not have the temperament for that, but I am certainly glad others do! Jul 10, 2007

  • uselessness I'd say that "principle" applies to anything that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. However, surgery does matter. Yikes. Jul 10, 2007

  • slumry There are variants of the saying "Sometimes/often wrong but never in doubt." I have heard it said that it is a necessary atribute of surgeons. And yet there is also such a thing as overconfidence. Jul 10, 2007

  • oroboros The stuff of all achievers. Inversely proportional to doubt. But a confidence man is to be avoided at all costs to preserve one's own store of confidence! Jul 10, 2007

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‘confidence’ has been looked up 3306 times, loved by 1 person, added to 40 lists, commented on 7 times, and has a Scrabble score of 18.