confidence

confidence

English

Alternative forms

• confidency (dated)

Etymology

From Middle English confidence, from Latin cōnfīdentia (possibly via Old French confidence), from cōnfīdō (“believe, confide in”) from con- (“with”) + fīdō (“trust”).

Morphologically confide +‎ -ence.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kŏn'fĭdəns
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒn.fɪ.dəns/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑn.fɪ.dəns/

    • Audio (US)

      (file)

Noun

confidence (countable and uncountable, plural confidences)

1. Self-assurance.
2. A feeling of certainty; firm trust or belief; faith.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Psalms 118:8–9:

     It is better to truſt in the Lord : then to put confidence in man. / It is better to truſt in the Lord : then to put confidence in Princes.

   • 1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 39:

     Khedron hesitated for a moment, wondering how far he should take Jeserac into his confidence. He knew that Jeserac was kindly and well-intentioned, but he also knew that he must be bound by the same taboos that controlled everyone on Diaspar.

   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion‎:

     But electric vehicles and the batteries that made them run became ensnared in corporate scandals, fraud, and monopolistic corruption that shook the confidence of the nation and inspired automotive upstarts.

3. Information held in secret; a piece of information shared but to thence be kept in secret.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], OCLC 1042815524, part I, page 201:

     In the course of these confidences it became quite plain to me I had been represented to the wife of the high dignitary, and goodness knows to how many more people besides, as an exceptional and gifted creature - a piece of good fortune for the Company - a man you don’t get hold of every day.

4. (dated) Boldness; presumption.

Antonyms

• (self-assurance): timidity

Derived terms

• confidence and supply
• confidence artist
• confidence game
• confidence interval
• confidence level
• confidence limits
• confidence man
• confidence motion
• confidence trick
• confidence trickster
• confidence vote
• e-confidence
• in confidence
• motion of confidence
• motion of no confidence
• no-confidence motion
• no-confidence vote
• overconfidence
• self-confidence
• vote of confidence
• vote of no confidence

 

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰeydʰ-‎ (0 c, 28 e)

Translations

self-assurance

Arabic: ثِقَة‎ f (ṯiqa) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: упэ́ўненасць f (upéŭnjenascʹ), самаўпэ́ўненасць f (samaŭpéŭnjenascʹ) Bulgarian: уве́реност (bg) f (uvérenost), самоуве́реност (bg) f (samouvérenost) Catalan: confiança (ca) f Chinese: Cantonese: 自信 (zi6 seon3) Mandarin: 信心 (zh) (xìnxīn), 自信 (zh) (zìxìn) Czech: sebevědomí (cs) n Dutch: zelfvertrouwen (nl) Esperanto: memfido Finnish: itseluottamus (fi) French: assurance (fr), confiance en soi (fr) f Galician: confianza f, fiúza f Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Selbstgewissheit f (elevated), Selbstvergewisserung f (elevated), Selbstvertrauen (de) n, Zuversicht (de) f Greek: αυτοπεποίθηση (el) f (aftopepoíthisi) Hebrew: ביטחון‎ (he) m (bitakhón), emuná f Hindi: विश्वास (hi) m (viśvās) Hungarian: magabiztosság (hu) Irish: urrúsacht f Italian: fiducia (it) f, autostima (it) f, certezza (it) f, sicurezza di sé f Japanese: 自信 (ja) (じしん, jishin), 確信 (ja) (かくしん, kakushin) Khmer: ទំនុកចិត្ត (tumnuk cət), ទំនុកទុកចិត្ត (tumnuktuk cət) Korean: 자신(自信) (ko) (jasin), 확신(確信) (ko) (hwaksin) Latin: confīdentia f Malay: keyakinan Malayalam: ആത്മവിശ്വാസം (ml) (ātmaviśvāsaṃ) Maori: māia, māiatanga, ngākau titikaha Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Persian: اعتماد به نفس‎ (fa) (e'temaad be nafs) Polish: pewność siebie (pl) f Portuguese: convicção (pt) f, confiança (pt) f, segurança (pt) f Romanian: siguranță (ro) f, siguranță de sine f Russian: уве́ренность (ru) f (uvérennostʹ), самоуве́ренность (ru) f (samouvérennostʹ) Spanish: certeza (es) f, certeza propia f Swedish: självsäkerhet (sv) c Tagalog: kumpyansa Telugu: నమ్మకము (te) (nammakamu), భరోసా (te) (bharōsā) Thai: ความมั่นใจ (th) (kwaam-mân-jai) Turkish: kendine itimat, öz güven (tr) Ukrainian: впе́вненість (vpévnenistʹ), самовпе́вненість (samovpévnenistʹ) Vietnamese: tự tin (vi), sự tự tin, tính tự tin

expression or feeling of certainty

Bashkir: ышаныс (ışanıs) Bulgarian: сигурност (bg) f (sigurnost) Catalan: confiança (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 信任 (zh) (xìnrèn), 信賴／信赖 (zh) (xìnlài), 確定性／确定性 (zh) (quèdìngxìng) Czech: jistota (cs) f Finnish: luottamus (fi) German: Zuversicht (de) f Gothic: 𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 f (trauains) Greek: βεβαιότητα (el) f (vevaiótita) Hindi: यक़ीन m (yaqīn) Hungarian: bizonyosság (hu) Italian: fiducia (it) f Japanese: 信用 (ja) (しんよう, shin'yō), 信頼 (ja) (しんらい, shinrai), 信任 (ja) (しんにん, shinnin) Kazakh: сенімшілік (senımşılık) Korean: 신임(信任) (ko) (sinim), 신용(信用) (ko) (sinyong), 신뢰(信賴) (ko) (silloe) Latin: fīdūcia f Maori: māiatanga, ngākau titikaha Norwegian: Bokmål: tillit (no) m or f Nynorsk: tillit m or f Portuguese: certeza (pt) f, convicção (pt) f Romanian: siguranță (ro) f Russian: уве́ренность (ru) f (uvérennostʹ) Spanish: certidumbre f Swedish: tilltro (sv) c, tillit (sv) c Tocharian B: päkwalñe Turkish: itimat (tr) (obsolescent), güven (tr) Ukrainian: впе́вненість (vpévnenistʹ) Vietnamese: sự tự tin

quality of trusting

Bulgarian: вяра (bg) f (vjara), доверие (bg) n (doverie) Chinese: Mandarin: 信任 (zh) (xìnrèn), 信賴／信赖 (zh) (xìnlài), 確定性／确定性 (zh) (quèdìngxìng) Czech: důvěra (cs) f Danish: fortrolighed c Dutch: vertrouwen (nl) Finnish: luottamus (fi) French: confiance (fr) f Galician: confianza f, fiúza f German: Vertrauen (de) n, Zutrauen (de) n Greek: εμπιστοσύνη (el) f (empistosýni) Hungarian: bizalom (hu) Italian: fiducia (it) f Korean: 확실(確實)함 (ko) (hwaksilham), 확실성(確實性) (ko) (hwaksilseong) Latin: fīdūcia f Maori: whakamanawatanga Norwegian: Bokmål: tillit (no) m or f Nynorsk: tillit m or f Portuguese: confiança (pt) f, confidência (pt) f Spanish: confidencia (es) f Swedish: tilltro (sv) c, tillit (sv) c Turkish: itimat (tr) (obsolescent), güven (tr)

information held in secret

Bulgarian: поверително съобщение (poveritelno sǎobštenie) Chinese: Mandarin: 心裡話／心里话 (zh) (xīnlihuà), 秘密 (zh) (mìmì) Czech: důvěrnost f, tajemství (cs) n Finnish: luottamuksellinen tieto French: confidence (fr) f German: Vertraulichkeit (de) f Greek: απόρρητο (el) n (apórrito) Hungarian: bizalmasság (hu) Italian: confidenza (it) Japanese: 打ち明け話 (うちあけばなし, uchiakebanashi), 秘密 (ja) (ひみつ, himitsu) Korean: 비밀(祕密) (ko) (bimil), 속내 (ko) (songnae) Portuguese: confidência (pt) f Romanian: confidență (ro) f Spanish: confidencia (es) f Swedish: förtroende (sv) n Turkish: samimiyet (tr), teklifsizlik (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Hebrew: (please verify) ביטחון‎ (he) m (bit'akhon) (2, 3) Slovene: (1) (please verify) samozavest f, (3) (please verify) zaupanje (sl) n

References

• confidence on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cōnfīdentia. Doublet of confiance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.fi.dɑ̃s/

Noun

confidence f (plural confidences)

1. confidence, secret

Related terms

• confident

Further reading

• “confidence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.