I. ˈkänfədənt also -d ə nt or -ˌdent adjective
Etymology: Middle French, from Latin confident-, confidens, present participle of confidere to confide
1. obsolete
a. : trustful , confiding
b. : giving occasion for confidence : trustworthy
2. : characterized by confidence, by a strong, reliant, and bold belief in oneself, and by freedom from fear, doubt, and worry
advancing from triumph to triumph with clear eye and confident step — W.R.Inge
3. : strongly disposed to believe in the merit or truth of something or to accept it as reliable or certain without doubt or reservation — usually used with of or a dependent clause
he felt confident that he could live to see the day — O.E.Rölvaag
4.
a. : characterized by an excessive belief in one's rightness, strength, or security and therefore rash or bold
I have no cocksure answer … Of course confident answers are common enough — C.E.Montague
b. : dogmatic , contentious , presumptuous
5. : confidential — obs. except as applied in Scots law to a person standing in such intimate and confidential relations as to be likely to know the state of one's business affairs
Synonyms:
assured , sanguine , sure , self-confident , self-assured , presumptuous : usually complimentary, confident may imply an undemonstrative firm feeling of certain success
a confident feeling of immense reserves in strength and endurance — T.E.Lawrence
Sometimes it may imply ill-grounded optimism or overbearing presumption
we have not realized the hopes of the eighteenth century ‘illumination’, when confident philosophers believed that humanity was shaking off its ancient chains — J.H.Robinson
he swaggered up the path as if the place belonged to him and we heard his loud, confident peal at the bell — A. Conan Doyle
assured , sometimes uncomplimentary, indicates utter absence of doubt in one's ability, success, or correctness
“All the boys in my class are older, but I keep at the head.” Sometimes he was almost too assured — Ellen Glasgow
[he] has assured carriage, walking boldly into good hotels and mixing with patrons on terms of equality — Don Marquis
sanguine , usually complimentary, stresses extreme optimism
a surgeon's commission for the doctor, and a lieutenancy for myself, were certainly counted upon in our sanguine expectations — Herman Melville
his sanguine spirit kindled with an enthusiasm which overleaped every obstacle — W.H.Prescott
sure usually indicates a reasonable, well-grounded confidence
individual members may be ill-bred; the House itself has a fine taste and breeding, and a sure instinct in matters of conduct — John Buchan
she tempted the young man into kissing her, and later lay in his arms for two hours, entirely sure of herself — Sherwood Anderson
self-confident and self-assured intensify suggestions of confident and assured and are often not complimentary
their claim to superiority is just as stubborn as though it were well-founded, just as self-assured as in case of our own really superior nation — Bertrand Russell
presumptuous always implies overconfidence and usually suggests boldness and insolence
Arheetoo had known me but two hours and as he made the proposition very coolly, I thought it rather presumptuous — Herman Melville
to write in this way of men like Dante and Shakespeare is really less presumptuous than to write of smaller men — T.S.Eliot
II.
variant of confidant