confident or confidant or confidante

In modern English “confident’ is almost always an adjective. Having studied for a test you feel confident about passing it. You’re in a confident frame of mind. This spelling is often misused as a noun meaning “person you confide in,” especially in the misspelled phrase “close confident.”The spelling “confidante” suggests that such a close friend might be a female, and conservatives prefer to confine its use to refer to women. But this spelling is also very common for males, and the spelling “confidant” is also used of both males and females. Either one will do in most contexts, but the person you trust with your deep secrets is not your “confident.”

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• pen vs pin
• resign vs re-sign
• whimp vs wimp
• submittal vs submission
• skiddish vs skittish
• intergrate vs integrate
• little own vs let alone
• ruff vs rough
• various vs several
• blindsighted vs blindsided

Definitions

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• a  having or marked by confidence or assurance
  a confident speaker
  a confident reply
  his manner is more confident these days
  confident of fulfillment
• s  persuaded of; very sure
  was confident he would win
• s  not liable to error in judgment or action

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• n  someone to whom private matters are confided

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• n  a female confidant

News & Articles

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• RSL confident in Carlos Salcedo at center back
  RSL confident in Carlos Salcedo at center back by Aaron Falk The Salt Lake Tribune Published Jun 21, 2013 09:49PM MDT Sandy • Kwame Watson-Siriboe is recovering from surgery. Chris Schuler limped around Friday’s training with a boot on his left foot. So against the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, it could very well be up to Carlos Salcedo to try to slow down some dangerous mixture of Eddie Johnson ...
  June 22, 2013 - The Salt Lake Tribune
• Cricket-Clarke confident of returning to action against Somerset
  June 21 (Reuters) - Australia captain Michael Clarke is confident he will recover from a back injury in time to play in their first warm-up match for the Ashes series. The recurring problem forced Clarke to miss the Champions Trophy and led to speculation that Australia's most prolific run-scorer in recent times could miss some of the five-test Ashes series in England, which starts at Trent ...
  June 21, 2013 - Reuters via Yahoo! Sports
• SoftBank confident Sprint deal will close in July
  By Mari Saito TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Corp CEO Masayoshi Son said on Friday he was confident his company's acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corp will be completed in early July after rival bidder Dish Network Corp failed to make a counter move this week. SoftBank, a Japanese mobile network operator, is heading into the home stretch as it tries to push through Japan's biggest ever acquisition ...
  June 21, 2013 - Reuters via Yahoo! News

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• Apple exec testifies at NY e-books trial
  A confidant of Steve Jobs denies Apple Inc. colluded with book publishers to drive up the price of electronic books. Eddy Cue testified Thursday at a price-fixing trial in federal court in Manhattan. The ...
  June 13, 2013 - Associated Press via Yahoo! Finance
• Long-lost Nazi diary recovered
  WILMINGTON, Del., June 13 (UPI) -- A long-lost diary, kept by a close confidant of Adolph Hitler, has been seized by authorities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
  June 13, 2013 - UPI
• Diary of Nazi leader and member of Hitler's inner circle found in Niagara County
  It's an historic document, missing for nearly 70 years and Thursday federal officials announced they've recovered the diary kept by a close confidant of Adolf Hitler. YNN's Virginia Butler reports the long road of clues leading to this diary ended in Lewiston.
  June 13, 2013 - YNN Syracuse

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• Clinton confidante at center of Benghazi damage-control tied to probe of suspected diplomat crimes
  A longtime confidante of Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton who reportedly played a key role in the State Department's damage-control efforts on the Benghazi attack last year is also named in accusations that department higher-ups quashed investigations into diplomats' potential criminal activity. Cheryl Mills, who served in a dual ...
  June 13, 2013 - The Washington Times
• Clinton confidante at center of Benghazi damage-control tied to probe of suspected diplomat crimes
  A longtime confidante of Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton who reportedly played a key role in the State Department's damage-control efforts on the Benghazi attack last year is also named in accusations that department higher-ups quashed investigations into diplomats' potential criminal activity. Cheryl Mills, who served in a dual ...
  June 13, 2013 - The Washington Times
• Cuomo Says Fred Dicker Report of Infighting Is ‘Not Credible’
  The ongoing break-up saga between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his former confidante-turned-combatant Fred Dicker continued Monday, as Mr. Cuomo dismissed Mr. Dicker’s latest report on office in-fighting as “not credible.” Mr. Dicker reported in the New York Post that the Cuomo administration is being divided by “a war over turf and power” being between two of the governor’s top right-hand men: Chief ...
  June 10, 2013 - The New York Observer