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
Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 6 Mar. 2025
President Donald Trump's close confidant and billionaire backer Elon Musk has supported a call for the U.S. to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations (UN).
—Dan Perry, Newsweek, 2 Mar. 2025
Browns general manager Andrew Berry and his key confidants will be talking not only to players in this year’s draft class but also to players’ agents and Berry’s peers about a potential mega-trade involving Garrett.
—Zac Jackson, The Athletic, 24 Feb. 2025
Earlier in Green’s Michigan State career, his role was reversed in a similar instance; Green got thrown out for beefing with Travis Walton, then a senior and now his close confidant.
—Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 23 Feb. 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 13 Mar. 2025.
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confidant
noun
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