| / English Dictionary |
CONFIDENCE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities
Example:
she spoke with authority
Synonyms:
assurance; authority; confidence; self-assurance; self-confidence; sureness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("confidence" is a kind of...):
certainty (the state of being certain)
Attribute:
certain; sure (having or feeling no doubt or uncertainty; confident and assured)
incertain; uncertain; unsure (lacking or indicating lack of confidence or assurance)
Derivation:
confident (having or marked by confidence or assurance)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A secret that is confided or entrusted to another
Example:
the priest could not reveal her confidences
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("confidence" is a kind of...):
secret (something that should remain hidden from others (especially information that is not to be passed on))
Derivation:
confide (reveal in private; tell confidentially)
confidential ((of information) given in confidence or in secret)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A feeling of trust (in someone or something)
Example:
confidence is always borrowed, never owned
Classified under:
Nouns denoting feelings and emotions
Hypernyms ("confidence" is a kind of...):
security (freedom from anxiety or fear)
Attribute:
confident (having or marked by confidence or assurance)
diffident; shy; timid; unsure (lacking self-confidence)
Antonym:
diffidence (lack of self-confidence)
Derivation:
confidential (denoting confidence or intimacy)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A trustful relationship
Example:
he betrayed their trust
Synonyms:
confidence; trust
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("confidence" is a kind of...):
friendly relationship; friendship (the state of being friends (or friendly))
Derivation:
confide (confer a trust upon)
confidential (entrusted with private information and the confidence of another)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A state of confident hopefulness that events will be favorable
Example:
public confidence in the economy
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("confidence" is a kind of...):
hopefulness (full of hope)
Derivation:
confident (having or marked by confidence or assurance)
Context examples:
It is not yet clear exactly how many genes these target, but the researchers have identified 191 genes with reasonable confidence; less than one in five of these had been previously recognised.
(Detailed genetic study provides most comprehensive map of risk to date of breast cancer risk, University of Cambridge)
I had so many letters now that I could proceed with considerable confidence to the second message.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It is an advantage to get about in such a case without taking a mercenary into your confidence.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Later, we may have to take the others into our confidence; then he stopped, so I waited; he went on:—"Madam Mina, our poor, dear Madam Mina is changing."
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
His was the perfect poise, the supreme confidence in self, which nothing could shake; and he was no more timid of a woman than he was of storm and battle.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
I have taken you fully into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I trust you.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The Outsides were timid and frightened, the Insides without confidence in their masters.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
I felt it was a time for conversation and confidence.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
All his sanguine expectations, all his confidence had been justified.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Her sorrow, her disappointment, her deep regret, when I told her that I was obliged to leave Devonshire so immediately—I never shall forget it—united too with such reliance, such confidence in me!
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
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