confiding

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of confide

comparative more confiding · superlative most confiding

1. Having or showing confidence or trust in another person.

   Those eyes especially struck Eugene, and when he thought of Liza he always saw those clear, mild, confiding eyes.

   2012, Leo Tolstoy, Family Happiness and Other Stories, page 95

   2 more examples

   Effingham was by nature indolent, confiding, and, at times, impetuous and indiscreet; but Marmaduke was uniformly equable, penetrating, and full of activity and enterprise.

   1825, James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers: Or, the Sources of the Susquehanna, page 41

   Not having a confiding relationship with one's husband was, however, associated with elevated risk for symptoms of anxiety.

   2014, Stevan E. Hobfoll, Stress, Social Support, And Women

2. In confidence; as if with trust.

   Juliet raised her eyes with confiding tenderness ; there was no interrogation in their glance, yet Montague wished to speak ; his heart was too full for words.

   1840, Theodore Edward Hook, Cousin Geoffrey, the old bachelor, page 129

   3 more examples

   Sir, they must surely entertain a higher opinion of the credulity of this house, than -- even their recent experience can justify, if they think that their confiding talent will be carried to this length.

   1807, Cobbett's Political Register - Volume 11, page 293

   It might be sufficient, perhaps, to refer only to that trait of frank, confiding generosity, which could overlook all injuries and embrace even former enemies as friends ; as in the case of Saul above referred to ;

   1834, Biblical Repository and Classical Review, page 595

   He defines tie strength in a fairly intuitive way as the amount of time as well as the emotional intensity and intimacy (in a confiding sense, rather than a sexual one, although I don't think he rules out the latter) devoted to our relationships, as well as the mutual benefits characterizing our dealings with other people.

   2014, John Edward Terrell, A Talent for Friendship: Rediscovery of a Remarkable Trait

3. biologyOf a bird, allowing the close approach of humans.

plural confidings

1. The telling of something in confidence.

   We see Washington by the fireside, upon the farm, amid the interchanges of friendship and ordinary confidings, and as a citizen, as well as in the sphere of military contest, in the senate, or as a diplomatist[…]

   1841, Absalom Peters, Selah B. Treat, The American Eclectic, volume 1, page 141