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
Tom O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Nov. 2025
Ready to be confidants for decades to come?
—Ali Barthwell, Vulture, 13 Nov. 2025
Sergei Lavrov was at the time – and still is – Russia's long-serving foreign minister and a close Putin confidant.
—Zac Anderson, USA Today, 13 Nov. 2025
Hurzeler has cited Palace head coach Oliver Glasner, an Austrian native, as a role model and confidant.
—Liam Tharme, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for confidant
Cite this Entry
“Confidant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confidant. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.
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confidant
noun
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