confide
/kən'faid/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (transitive):
- To tell a secret or private matter to someone in confidence: To share information with someone, trusting that they will not reveal it to others.
- To entrust something to someone's care: To place something (e.g., a task, a secret, a person) into the care or responsibility of another, based on trust.
Examples of Usage
- Verb (transitive):
- She felt she could confide her fears to her best friend.
- He confided the delicate mission to his most trusted advisor.
- "I must confide in someone," she thought, feeling overwhelmed.
Advanced Usage
- "to confide in (someone)": To choose to share one's private thoughts or secrets with a specific person because they are trusted.
- It's important to have at least one person you can confide in.
- "to confide that...": Used to introduce a clause revealing the confidential information that was shared.
- He confided that he was considering a career change.
Variants and Related Words
- Confidant/Confidante (noun): A person in whom one confides.
- Her sister was her closest confidante.
- Confiding (adjective): Trusting; showing trust through the act of confiding.
- She gave him a confiding smile.
- Confidence (noun): The feeling or belief that one can trust someone; also, the secret information that is confided.
- I have complete confidence in her discretion. / She shared a confidence with me.
Synonyms
- Disclose: To make something known.
- Entrust: To assign the responsibility for something to someone.
- Reveal: To make previously unknown information known.
- Divulge: To make private or sensitive information known.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Confide in: This is the primary and most common phrasal construction with "confide." It means to share secrets or private matters with a trusted person.
- You need a friend you can confide in.
Related Idioms
- Take someone into one's confidence: To confide in someone; to trust someone with a secret.
- The manager took her into his confidence about the upcoming merger.
Verb
- confer a trust upon
- The messenger was entrusted with the general's secret
- I commit my soul to God
- reveal in private; tell confidentially