Meaning & use
confide in
Last updated
UK/kənˈfaɪd ɪn/
US/kənˈfaɪd ɪn/
Meaning
verbphrasal verb
To tell someone your private thoughts or secrets because you trust them.
Grammar: Takes a person after in: confide in a friend.
Patterns
- confide in someone
- confide in someone about something
She confided in her sister about her fears.
I knew I could confide in him.
He had no one to confide in after he moved.
Word forms
| third person singular | confides in |
|---|---|
| past tense | confided in |
| past participle | confided in |
| -ing form | confiding in |
Common combinations
- confide in a friend
- She chose to confide in a close friend.
- someone to confide in
- Everyone needs someone to confide in.
- confide in someone about something
- He confided in her about the job loss.
- afraid to confide in
- He was afraid to confide in his parents.
Synonyms and how they differ
- open up to
- Open up to is more informal and stresses becoming less guarded.
- entrust
- Entrust means give someone responsibility or a secret to keep, and takes a different pattern.
- unburden yourself to
- Unburden yourself to stresses relief from a heavy worry.
- tell
- Tell is general and lacks the sense of private trust.
Opposites
keep secrethide
Word family
- confidant noun
- a man trusted with secrets
- confidante noun
- a woman trusted with secrets
- confidence noun
- a private trust or secret
- confidential adjective
- meant to be kept private
Commonly confused: confide in or confide to? confide in or confine?
confide in vs confide to
Confide to goes with the secret itself, as in confide a secret to someone, while confide in goes with the person.
confide in vs confine
Confine means keep inside limits and sounds similar but is unrelated.
Practice
She decided to ___ her best friend about the problem.
Choose one answer.
Confide takes in before the trusted person. Confine is a different word, and on and at are wrong prepositions.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “confide in”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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