Meanings
plural self-confidences
- uncountableusuallyThe state or degree of being self-confident: believing in one's own abilities.
1 more example
Standing up for themselves is often difficult for girls from male-dominated cultures. Take Bahareh Husseini. She fled Iran and now lives in the German city of Düsseldorf. She wanted to study and be able determine her own path in life. In Germany, she found support at Diakonie, a Protestant social welfare organization. There, Jessica te Heesen heads the JUMP project, which helps refugee girls develop self-confidence, assert themselves, and find their way in school and at work. Bahareh is now studying medical physics — and passing on her experiences to others.
2026 February 2, “Strong Women - The Fight for Self-Determination”, in Deutsche Welle, archived from the original on 13 May 2026Synonyms: self-assurance
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe state or degree of being self-confident: believing in one's own abilities.
More synonyms by meaning
nounfreedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*swé?
- Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*selbaz
- Old Englishself
- Old Englishself-
- Middle Englishself-
- Englishself-
- Englishconfidence
- Englishself-confidence
From self- + confidence.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic ثِقَة بِالنَّفْس
- ثِقَة بِالنَّفْسmeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Bulgarian самоувереност
- самоувереност (samouverenost)state of being self-confident
Catalan autoconfiança, confiança en si mateix
- autoconfiançastate of being self-confident
- confiança en si mateixstate of being self-confident
Chinese Mandarin 自信, 自信心
- 自信 (zìxìn)state of being self-confident
- 自信心 (zìxìnxīn)state of being self-confident
Czech sebedůvěra, sebevědomí
- sebedůvěrastate of being self-confident
- sebevědomístate of being self-confident
Danish selvtillid
- selvtillidstate of being self-confident
Dutch zelfvertrouwen, zelfverzekerdheid
- zelfvertrouwenstate of being self-confident
- zelfverzekerdheidstate of being self-confident
- zelfvertrouwenmeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
- zelfverzekerdheidmeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Esperanto memcerteco
- memcertecostate of being self-confident
Finnish itseluottamus, itseluottamus
- itseluottamusstate of being self-confident
- itseluottamusmeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
French confiance en soi, confiance en soi
- confiance en soistate of being self-confident
- confiance en soimeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
German Selbstvertrauen, Selbstvertrauen
- Selbstvertrauenstate of being self-confident
- Selbstvertrauenmeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Greek αυτοπεποίθηση, αυτοπεποίθηση
- αυτοπεποίθηση (aftopepoíthisi)state of being self-confident
- αυτοπεποίθηση (aftopepoíthisi)measure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Hindi आत्मविश्वास, आत्मविश्वास
- आत्मविश्वास (ātmaviśvās)state of being self-confident
- आत्मविश्वास (ātmaviśvās)measure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Hungarian önbizalom, önbizalom
- önbizalomstate of being self-confident
- önbizalommeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Icelandic sjálfsöryggi, sjálfstraust
- sjálfsöryggistate of being self-confident
- sjálfstrauststate of being self-confident
- sjálfsöryggimeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
- sjálfstraustmeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Irish féinmhuinín, féinmhuinín
- féinmhuinínstate of being self-confident
- féinmhuinínmeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Italian fiducia in sé stesso
- fiducia in sé stessostate of being self-confident
Japanese 自信
- 自信 (jishin)state of being self-confident
Malay keyakinan diri
- keyakinan diristate of being self-confident
Norwegian Bokmål selvtillit, sjøltillit
- selvtillitstate of being self-confident
- sjøltillitstate of being self-confident
Persian خودباوری
- خودباوریmeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Polish kontenans, kuraż
- kontenansstate of being self-confident
- kurażstate of being self-confident
- rezonstate of being self-confident
- pewność siebiestate of being self-confident
- pewność siebiemeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Portuguese autoconfiança, autoconfiança
- autoconfiançastate of being self-confident
- autoconfiançameasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Romanian siguranță de sine
- siguranță de sinestate of being self-confident
Russian самоуве́ренность, самоуве́ренность
- самоуве́ренность (samouvérennostʹ)state of being self-confident
- самоуве́ренность (samouvérennostʹ)measure of one's belief in one's own abilities
- самонаде́янность (samonadéjannostʹ)measure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Spanish autoconfianza, desparpajo
- autoconfianzastate of being self-confident
- desparpajostate of being self-confident
- desenvolturastate of being self-confident
- autoconfianzameasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Swedish självförtroende
- självförtroendestate of being self-confident
Tagalog kumpiyansa sa sarili, kumpiyansa sa sarili
- kumpiyansa sa sarilistate of being self-confident
- kumpiyansa sa sarilimeasure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Tamil தன்னம்பிக்கை, தன்னம்பிக்கை
- தன்னம்பிக்கை (taṉṉampikkai)state of being self-confident
- தன்னம்பிக்கை (taṉṉampikkai)measure of one's belief in one's own abilities
Cite this entry
self-confidence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-confidence
“self-confidence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-confidence. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-confidence,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-confidence.
Source: self-confidence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.