Meaning & use
confide
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To tell someone a private secret or personal worry because you trust them to keep it to themselves.
Grammar: Confide in someone (intransitive) or confide something to someone (transitive); in with a person, to with a secret.
Patterns
- confide in someone
- confide something to someone
- confide that something is true
She confided in her sister about the new job offer.
He confided to his teacher that he was struggling at home.
I never confide my worries to people who gossip.
verbtransitiveformalold-fashioned
To place something in someone's care because you trust them with it, usually in a formal or old-fashioned way.
Grammar: Takes an object, followed by to: confide the keys to a neighbor.
Patterns
- confide something to someone
The old man confided his savings to a bank he trusted.
She confided the care of the garden to a young apprentice.
Word forms
| third person singular | confides |
|---|---|
| past tense | confided |
| -ing form | confiding |
Common combinations
- confide in a friend
- It helps to confide in a friend when you feel overwhelmed.
- confide a secret
- He confided a secret to me during the long train ride.
- confide that
- She confided that she was afraid of speaking in public.
- confide in someone you trust
- Always confide in someone you trust with sensitive news.
- confide privately
- He confided privately to his wife that he was thinking of leaving.
Synonyms and how they differ
- disclose
- Disclose is more formal and works for facts of any kind, while confide suggests a personal and trusting moment.
- entrust
- Entrust means handing responsibility or objects to someone, whereas confide is mostly about telling private thoughts.
- open up
- Open up is informal and describes starting to share feelings, while confide is a slightly more careful, formal word.
- reveal
- Reveal can be done to anyone, but confide implies a trusted listener.
Opposites
Word family
- confidant noun
- a man or woman you trust with private matters
- confidante noun
- a female confidant, a spelling still used
- confidence noun
- trust, or a private thing told in trust
- confidential adjective
- meant to be kept secret
- confidentially adverb
- in a private way that others should not hear
Commonly confused: confide or confine?
confide vs confine
Confine means to keep within limits and has a different meaning, even though the two words look alike.
Practice
Maya decided to ___ her fears about the exam to her older cousin.
Choose one answer.
Confide something to someone means to share a private worry with a trusted person. Confine means restrict, conflict is not used as a verb with a person in this way, and confirm means check or prove.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “confide”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.