Meaning & use
confident
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Feeling sure about your own abilities, qualities, or judgment; believing in yourself.
Grammar: Takes in for abilities: confident in her skills; takes about for a general feeling: confident about the future.
Patterns
- confident in something
- confident about something
- confident that
After months of practice, Maria felt confident in her ability to lead the meeting.
He has become much more confident since he changed schools.
She walked to the front of the class with a confident smile.
adjectivecomparable
Certain that something will happen or that something is true.
Grammar: Takes a that-clause or of + noun/-ing: confident of winning; not an infinitive.
Patterns
- confident that
- confident of something
- confident of doing something
I'm confident that the package will arrive on Friday.
The coach is confident of winning the championship this year.
Doctors are confident of a full recovery.
Word forms
| comparative | more confident |
|---|---|
| superlative | most confident |
Common combinations
- confident in one's abilities
- She is confident in her abilities as a designer.
- confident that
- We're confident that we made the right choice.
- a confident smile/manner
- He answered every question with a confident smile.
- quietly confident
- The team is quietly confident before the final.
- grow increasingly confident
- She has grown increasingly confident at work.
Synonyms and how they differ
- self-assured
- Suggests calm certainty shown in your manner; it can hint at overconfidence, while confident is neutral.
- certain
- Focuses on a belief that something is true, not on a person's general character.
- sure
- More informal and everyday; confident sounds slightly stronger or more formal.
Opposites
Word family
- confidence noun
- The feeling of being sure about yourself or about an outcome.
- confidently adverb
- In a confident way.
- self-confident adjective
- Confident about your own abilities and worth.
Commonly confused: confident or confidant?
confident vs confidant
A confidant (feminine confidante) is a person you trust with your secrets; confident is the adjective.
Practice
The doctor is confident ___ the new treatment will work.
Choose one answer.
Confident is followed by a that-clause for an outcome: confident that it will work. 'Confident in' takes abilities or qualities (confident in her judgment), not a clause, and 'of' takes a noun or -ing form (confident of success).
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “confident”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.