Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Feeling or showing certainty, as of success.
  • adjective Feeling or showing confidence in oneself; self-assured: synonym: sure.
  • adjective Obsolete Confiding; trustful.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having strong belief; fully assured.
  • Confiding; not entertaining suspicion or distrust.
  • Relying on one's self; full of assurance; bold; sometimes, overbold.
  • Giving occasion for confidence.
  • noun A confidant.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun See confidant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective very sure of something; positive
  • adjective self-confident
  • noun Obsolete form of confidant.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having or marked by confidence or assurance
  • adjective persuaded of; very sure
  • adjective not liable to error in judgment or action

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin cōnfīdēns, cōnfīdent-, present participle of cōnfīdere, to rely on; see confide.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin confidens ("confident, i.e. self-confident, in good or bad sense, bold, daring, audacious, impudent"), present participle of confidere ("to trust fully, confide"); see confide.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word confident.

Examples

  • V. iv.8 (521,1) the confident tyrant/Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure/Our setting down before't] He was _confident_ of success; so

    Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies Samuel Johnson 1746

  • Tom Quinn, a longtime political adviser, said Mr. Brown began the term confident that what had worked before would again.

    NYT > Home Page By ADAM NAGOURNEY 2011

  • On top, her expression confident, Sumi lowered her head.

    Pure Paradise Allison Hobbs 2009

  • We remain confident about our future and believe that we are on track to achieve our medium-term goals, Mr. Grubel said in a statement.

    UBS Staunches Outflow of Funds Katharina Bart 2010

  • Over confident is the correct term ..... weak and naive Obama understands nothing about war, he only knows how to spend money we don't have.

    Obama 'confident' on July 2011 deadline in Afghanistan 2010

  • Firstly, always remain confident and resolute when addressing someone who you believe has wronged you.

    When Fighting Back Goes Wrong, and When The Wrong Fight Back - The Consumerist 2009

  • More confident is a good way to describe the president's mood when it comes to the overall economic outlook; extraordinarily cautious - his choice of words when looking at the economy from the perspective the matters most of everyday Americans.

    King: Busy week for the president 2009

  • "We remain confident in the safety and nutrition of our products, and we are in the process of responding to the letter and providing the additional information FDA requested," the company said.

    FDA Warns Mead Johnson on Enfamil Packaging Jennifer Corbett Dooren 2010

  • And romantic it certainly was — the fog, like the grey shadow of infinite mystery, brooding over the whirling speck of earth; and men, mere motes of light and sparkle, cursed with an insane relish for work, riding their steeds of wood and steel through the heart of the mystery, groping their way blindly through the Unseen, and clamouring and clanging in confident speech the while their hearts are heavy with incertitude and fear.

    Chapter 1 2010

  • Over confident is the correct term ..... weak and naive Obama understands nothing about war, he only knows how to spend money we don't have.

    Obama 'confident' on July 2011 deadline in Afghanistan 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • I'm confident that I will never forget this word

    July 1, 2015