confidential
Syllables: con·fi·den·tialUK/ˌkɒn.fɪˈdɛn.ʃəl//ˌkɔn.fɪˈdɛn.ʃəl/
confidential adjective: kept, or meant to be kept, secret within a certain circle of persons; not intended to be known publicly.
Adjective
confidential (comparative more confidential, superlative most confidential)
- Kept, or meant to be kept, secret within a certain circle of persons; not intended to be known publicly.
- The newspaper claims a leaked confidential report by the government admits to problems with corrupt MPs.
- […]I have a communication of a very private—indeed, I will say, of a sacredly confidential nature, which I desire to make to you.1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LXI, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VI, page 355
- Synonyms:
- private, classified, off the record, privileged, secret, dern
- Antonyms:
- public, on the record
- Inclined to share confidences; (of things) making people inclined to share confidences; involving the sharing of confidences.
- Sitting in front of the fire, they became quite confidential, and began to gossip.
- Long, long would it be ere Miss Crawford′s name passed his lips again, or she could hope for a renewal of such confidential intercourse as had been.1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 310
- Having someone's confidence or trust; having a position requiring trust; worthy of being trusted with confidences.
- a confidential agent
- a confidential servant
confidential meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
confidential in Hindi
- meant to be kept secret within a certain circle
- गोपनीय gopnīya
confidential in Tamil
- கமுக்கமான, நம்பகமான, மறைகாப்பு மந்தணம்
confidential in Urdu
- confidential; clandestine
- راز rāz
confidential in Bengali
- confidential, private, secret
- গোপন gōpon
More languagesFewer languages
- confidential in Malayalam
- രഹസ്യമായ, സ്വകാര്യമെന്നു സൂചിപ്പിക്കുന്ന, രഹസ്യം, വിശ്വസ്തം
- confidential in Kannada
- ರಹಸ್ಯವಾದ, ಗೋಪ್ಯವಾದ, ಅಂತರಂಗದ, ಗುಟ್ಟಿನ
- confidential in Arabic
- سَرِّيّ sarriyy, خُصُوصِيّ ḵuṣūṣiyy
- confidential in Thai
- ลับเฉพาะ láp chàpór, ลับ láp
Examples of confidential in a sentence
- a confidential whisper
- It would tell against your reputation, losing a confidential document, wouldn’t it?1960, Muriel Spark, chapter 10, in The Bachelors, Philadelphia: Lippincott, published 1961, page 163:
- I was only alive to the condensed confidential comfortableness of sharing a pipe and a blanket with a real friend.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Nightgown”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers...
- She and Bertha had never been on confidential terms, but at such a crisis the barriers of reserve must surely fall:[…]1905, Edith Wharton, chapter II, in The House of Mirth, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, book II, page 329:
- Miss Raste was encouraged to be entirely confidential, to withhold nothing even about herself, by the confidence-inspiring and kindly aspect of Elsie’s face.1923, Arnold Bennett, chapter II, in Riceyman Steps, London: Cassell, Part 5, page 241:
Synonyms of confidential
Antonyms
Forms of confidential
| comparative | more confidential |
|---|---|
| superlative | most confidential |
Origin of confidential
From Latin cōnfīdentia + English -al. Possibly a calque of French confidentiel. First attested in 1641.
Words formed from confidential
Phrases with confidential
Words that rhyme with confidential
Questions about confidential
- What does confidential mean?
- Confidential means kept, or meant to be kept, secret within a certain circle of persons; not intended to be known publicly.
- What is confidential in Hindi?
- Confidential in Hindi is गोपनीय (gopnīya). See Confidential meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use confidential in a sentence?
- a confidential whisper
- What part of speech is confidential?
- Confidential is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce confidential?
- Confidential is pronounced /ˌkɒn.fɪˈdɛn.ʃəl/ (UK).
Words near confidential in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: confidential (page history and authors); confidential (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); راز (Urdu) (page history and authors); গোপন (Bengali) (page history and authors); confidential (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); confidential (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-confidential.ogg.
Cite this entry: “confidential.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/confidential. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.