Meanings
plural confidences · alternative obsolete confidency
- countableuncountableA feeling of certainty; firm trust or belief; faith.
She had confidence it would soon end.
4 more examples
I reposed a great deal of confidence in his judgment.
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.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 118:8–9Khedron 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.
1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 39But 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.
2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion - countableuncountableInformation held in secret; a piece of information shared but to thence be kept in secret.
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.
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, part I, page 201 - countabledateduncountableBoldness; presumption.
Synonyms & antonyms
antonym(s) of “self-assurance”
nounfreedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchconfidence
- Latincōnfīdentia
- Middle Englishconfidence
- Englishconfidence
From Middle English confidence, from Latin cōnfīdentia (possibly via Old French confidence), from cōnfīdō (“believe, confide in”) from con- (“with”) + fīdō (“trust”). By surface analysis, confide + ence.
More words from Middle English, Latin, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic ثِقَة
- ثِقَة (ṯiqa)self-assurance
Bulgarian уве́реност, самоуве́реност
- уве́реност (uvérenost)self-assurance
- самоуве́реност (samouvérenost)self-assurance
- сигурност (sigurnost)expression or feeling of certainty
- поверително съобщение (poveritelno săobštenie)information held in secret
- вяра (vjara)quality of trusting
- доверие (doverie)quality of trusting
Catalan confiança, confiança
- confiançaself-assurance
- confiançaexpression or feeling of certainty
- confidènciainformation held in secret
Chinese Cantonese 自信
- 自信 (zi⁶ seon³)self-assurance
Chinese Mandarin 信心, 自信
- 信心 (xìnxīn)self-assurance
- 自信 (zìxìn)self-assurance
- 信任 (xìnrèn)expression or feeling of certainty
- 信賴 /信赖 (xìnlài)expression or feeling of certainty
- 確定性 /确定性 (quèdìngxìng)expression or feeling of certainty
- 心裡話 /心里话 (xīnlihuà)information held in secret
- 秘密 (mìmì)information held in secret
- 信任 (xìnrèn)quality of trusting
- 信賴 /信赖 (xìnlài)quality of trusting
- 確定性 /确定性 (quèdìngxìng)quality of trusting
Czech sebevědomí, jistota
- sebevědomíself-assurance
- jistotaexpression or feeling of certainty
- důvěrnostinformation held in secret
- tajemstvíinformation held in secret
- důvěraquality of trusting
Danish selvsikkerhed, fortrolighed
- selvsikkerhedself-assurance
- fortrolighedquality of trusting
Dutch zelfvertrouwen, vertrouwen
- zelfvertrouwenself-assurance
- vertrouwenquality of trusting
Esperanto memfido
- memfidoself-assurance
Finnish itseluottamus, luottamus
- itseluottamusself-assurance
- luottamusexpression or feeling of certainty
- luottamuksellinen tietoinformation held in secret
- luottamusquality of trusting
French assurance, confiance en soi
- assuranceself-assurance
- confiance en soiself-assurance
- confidenceinformation held in secret
- confiancequality of trusting
German Selbstgewissheit, Selbstvergewisserung
- Selbstgewissheitself-assurance
- Selbstvergewisserungself-assurance
- Selbstvertrauenself-assurance
- Zuversichtself-assurance
- Zuversichtexpression or feeling of certainty
- Vertraulichkeitinformation held in secret
- Vertrauenquality of trusting
- Zutrauenquality of trusting
Greek αυτοπεποίθηση, βεβαιότητα
- αυτοπεποίθηση (aftopepoíthisi)self-assurance
- βεβαιότητα (vevaiótita)expression or feeling of certainty
- απόρρητο (apórrito)information held in secret
- εμπιστοσύνη (empistosýni)quality of trusting
Hebrew בִּטָּחוֹן, אֱמוּנָה
- בִּטָּחוֹן (bitakhón)self-assurance
- אֱמוּנָה (emuná)self-assurance
Hindi विश्वास, आत्मविश्वास
- विश्वास (viśvās)self-assurance
- आत्मविश्वास (ātmaviśvās)self-assurance
- भरोसा (bharosā)self-assurance
- विश्वास (viśvās)expression or feeling of certainty
- भरोसा (bharosā)expression or feeling of certainty
- विश्वास (viśvās)quality of trusting
Hungarian magabiztosság, bizonyosság
- magabiztosságself-assurance
- bizonyosságexpression or feeling of certainty
- bizalmasságinformation held in secret
- bizalomquality of trusting
Irish urrúsacht
- urrúsachtself-assurance
Italian fiducia, autostima
- fiduciaself-assurance
- autostimaself-assurance
- certezzaself-assurance
- sicurezza di séself-assurance
- fiduciaexpression or feeling of certainty
- confidenzainformation held in secret
- fiduciaquality of trusting
Japanese 自信, 確信
- 自信 (jishin)self-assurance
- 確信 (kakushin)self-assurance
- 信用 (shin'yō)expression or feeling of certainty
- 信頼 (shinrai)expression or feeling of certainty
- 信任 (shinnin)expression or feeling of certainty
- 打ち明け話 (uchiakebanashi)information held in secret
- 秘密 (himitsu)information held in secret
Korean 자신, 확신
- 자신 (jasin)self-assurance
- 확신 (hwaksin)self-assurance
- 신임 (sinim)expression or feeling of certainty
- 신용 (sinyong)expression or feeling of certainty
- 신뢰 (silloe)expression or feeling of certainty
- 비밀 (bimil)information held in secret
- 속내 (songnae)information held in secret
- 확실(確實)함 (hwaksilham)quality of trusting
- 확실성 (hwaksilseong)quality of trusting
Latin confīdentia, fīdūcia
- confīdentiaself-assurance
- fīdūciaexpression or feeling of certainty
- fīdūciaquality of trusting
Malay keyakinan
- keyakinanself-assurance
Māori māia, māiatanga
- māiaself-assurance
- māiatangaself-assurance
- ngākau titikahaself-assurance
- māiatangaexpression or feeling of certainty
- ngākau titikahaexpression or feeling of certainty
- whakamanawatangaquality of trusting
Norwegian Bokmål tillit, tillit
- tillitexpression or feeling of certainty
- tillitquality of trusting
Persian اعتماد به نفس
- اعتماد به نفس (e'temâd be nafs)self-assurance
Polish pewność siebie
- pewność siebieself-assurance
Portuguese convicção, confiança
- convicçãoself-assurance
- confiançaself-assurance
- segurançaself-assurance
- certezaexpression or feeling of certainty
- convicçãoexpression or feeling of certainty
- confidênciainformation held in secret
- confiançaquality of trusting
- confidênciaquality of trusting
Romanian siguranță, siguranță de sine
- siguranțăself-assurance
- siguranță de sineself-assurance
- siguranțăexpression or feeling of certainty
- confidențăinformation held in secret
Russian уве́ренность, самоуве́ренность
- уве́ренность (uvérennostʹ)self-assurance
- самоуве́ренность (samouvérennostʹ)self-assurance
- уве́ренность (uvérennostʹ)expression or feeling of certainty
- секре́т (sekrét)information held in secret
- конфиденциа́льное сообще́ние (konfidenciálʹnoje soobščénije)information held in secret
Spanish certeza, certeza propia
- certezaself-assurance
- certeza propiaself-assurance
- autoconfianzaself-assurance
- certidumbreexpression or feeling of certainty
- confidenciainformation held in secret
- confidenciaquality of trusting
Swedish självsäkerhet, tilltro
- självsäkerhetself-assurance
- tilltroexpression or feeling of certainty
- tillitexpression or feeling of certainty
- förtroendeinformation held in secret
- tilltroquality of trusting
- tillitquality of trusting
Tagalog kumpyansa, kumpidensiya
- kumpyansaself-assurance
- kumpidensiyaself-assurance
- seguradoexpression or feeling of certainty
Thai ความมั่นใจ
- ความมั่นใจ (kwaam-mân-jai)self-assurance
Turkish kendine itimat, öz güven
- kendine itimatself-assurance
- öz güvenself-assurance
- itimatexpression or feeling of certainty
- güvenexpression or feeling of certainty
- samimiyetinformation held in secret
- teklifsizlikinformation held in secret
- itimatquality of trusting
- güvenquality of trusting
Ukrainian впе́вненість, самовпе́вненість
- впе́вненість (vpévnenistʹ)self-assurance
- самовпе́вненість (samovpévnenistʹ)self-assurance
- впе́вненість (vpévnenistʹ)expression or feeling of certainty
Vietnamese tự tin, sự tự tin
- tự tinself-assurance
- sự tự tinself-assurance
- tính tự tinself-assurance
- sự tự tinexpression or feeling of certainty
Cite this entry
confidence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/confidence
“confidence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/confidence. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “confidence,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/confidence.
Source: confidence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.