Confident and confidant/confidante are words that are close in spelling and pronunciation and may be considered confusables. We will examine the different meanings of the confusables confident and confidante/confidante, the word origins of the terms, and some examples of their English usage in sentences.
Confident means self-assured or certain. Confident is an adjective; the adverb form is confidently, the noun form is confidence. The word confident is derived from the Latin word, confidentem, which means bold, self-reliant.
Confidant/confidante are nouns that mean a person with whom you share a secret or a private matter. Strictly speaking, confidant is used when discussing a male, and confidante is used when discussing a female; however, the terms are increasingly used interchangeably. The words confidant/confidante are derived from the French word, confident, which means a trusted friend.
Examples
‘Plastic is all around us’: Can Southern Utahns be confident their plastic is actually getting recycled? (The St. George News)
Kolkata: Confident of the BJP coming to power in West Bengal next year, Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday ruled out the imposition of Article 356 (President’s Rule) in the state, a key demand by many BJP leaders, ahead of next year’s Assembly elections. (The Deccan Chronicle)
One day after the influential, celebrity-loved Hillsong Church announced the termination of Lentz due to “moral failures,” Justin Bieber’s one-time spiritual confidant addressed his departure in a lengthy Instagram post on Thursday. (People Magazine)
Giving her name as Miss Fayth, the confidante said that McKenzie had often vowed that he would slay his practical nurse partner, Suianne Easy, citing infidelity grievances. (The Jamaica Gleaner)