Did you know?
If you're confident of the trustworthiness of your confidants, you're tuned into the origins of the word confidant. The word comes, via French, from the Italian confidente, meaning "trusting, having trust in," from Latin confīdere, meaning "to put one’s trust in, have confidence in.” Other descendants of confīdere in English include confide, confidence, confident, and confidential, all of which ultimately have Latin fīdere, meaning "to trust (in), rely (on)," as their root. Confidant (and its variant confidante, used especially of a woman) and confident are often confused, a topic about which we have plenty to say.
Did you know?
Is it confident or confidant? (Or is it confidante?)
If you find yourself unsure whether you should choose confident or confidant don’t feel bad; confidant comes to English from the French word confident, and when the word first entered our language it was often spelled that way, rather than as confidant. The difference is quite simple: confidant is a noun (meaning "a person in whom you confide things"), and confident is an adjective (defined as “having confidence”). You may well be confident in your confidant, but you would not be confidant in your confident. Although this distinction has not always been observed by writers, confidante is generally used for a female confidant. The word confidant is more frequently used to describe a man, but it may be applied to either gender.
Examples of confidant in a Sentence
Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2025
Trump reportedly told a confidant after seeing Bongino as a contributor on Fox News in 2018, according to the Daily Beast.
—Miranda Jeyaretnam, TIME, 24 Feb. 2025
The Trump confidant is heading the Department of Government Efficiency, which is at the center of dismantling government programs and agencies that the White House deems wasteful.
—Ramsey Touchberry, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 15 Feb. 2025
The Israeli cabinet member Ron Dermer, who is Netanyahu's closest confidant and his longtime key contact with Republican administrations, was dispatched multiple times to Washington and to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
—Amos Harel, Foreign Affairs, 29 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for confidant
Articles Related to confidant
Cite this Entry
“Confidant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confidant. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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confidant
noun
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