confidante
noun
Did you know?
Is it confident or confidant? (Or is it confidante?)
If you find yourself unsure whether you should choose confident or confidant don’t feel bad; confidant comes to English from the French word confident, and when the word first entered our language it was often spelled that way, rather than as confidant. The difference is quite simple: confidant is a noun (meaning "a person in whom you confide things"), and confident is an adjective (defined as “having confidence”). You may well be confident in your confidant, but you would not be confidant in your confident. Although this distinction has not always been observed by writers, confidante is generally used for a female confidant. The word confidant is more frequently used to describe a man, but it may be applied to either gender.
Examples of confidante in a Sentence
Ben Croll, Variety, 11 Oct. 2025
Her only confidante in the office is Tisha (Myha’la) who, when the going later gets bad, shows her true allegiances to keeping her own reputation intact.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 19 Sep. 2025
Violeta Santos Moura | Reuters White House confidante Steve Bannon has an unusual solution for who should take over as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell next year.
—Jeff Cox, CNBC, 19 Sep. 2025
Abu Dhabi may expel Israel’s ambassador to the UAE, Yossi Shelley, a close confidante of Prime Minister Netanyahu, who shares his zeal for territorial expansionism.
—Monica Marks, Time, 19 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for confidante
Cite this Entry
“Confidante.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confidante. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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confidante
noun
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