Confide
//kənˈfaɪd// verb
verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To trust, have faith (in). archaic, intransitive
""Be calm, lovely Antonia!" he replied; "no danger in near you: confide in my protection.""
- 2 reveal in private; tell confidentially wordnet
- 3 To entrust (something) to the responsibility of someone. dated, transitive
"I confide this mission to you alone."
- 4 confer a trust upon wordnet
- 5 To take (someone) into one's confidence, to speak in secret with. intransitive
"I could no longer keep this secret alone; I decided to confide in my brother."
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- 6 To say (something) in confidence. intransitive, transitive
"After several drinks, I confided my problems to the barman."
Example
More examples"He didn't trust his brother enough to confide in him."
Etymology
From Middle Scots confide, confyde (“to put trust in”), from Latin confīdere (“to put trust in, have confidence in”), from con- (“together”) + fidēre (“to trust”). First attested in English use in the early 17th century. Doublet of faith and fidelity.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.