confidential
Americanadjective
-
spoken, written, acted on, etc., in strict privacy or secrecy; secret.
a confidential remark.
- Synonyms:
- private, restricted
-
indicating confidence or intimacy; imparting private matters.
a confidential tone of voice.
-
having another's trust or confidence; entrusted with secrets or private affairs.
a confidential secretary.
- Synonyms:
- private, trustworthy
-
(of information, a document, etc.)
-
bearing the classification confidential, usually being above restricted and below secret.
-
limited to persons authorized to use information, documents, etc., so classified.
-
adjective
-
spoken, written, or given in confidence; secret; private
-
entrusted with another's confidence or secret affairs
a confidential secretary
-
suggestive of or denoting intimacy
a confidential approach
Related Words
See familiar.
Other Word Forms
- confidentiality noun
- confidentially adverb
- confidentialness noun
- nonconfidential adjective
- nonconfidentiality noun
- nonconfidentially adverb
- nonconfidentialness noun
- quasi-confidential adjective
- quasi-confidentially adverb
Etymology
Origin of confidential
First recorded in 1645–55; from Latin confīdenti(a) confidence + -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Neither the FBI nor confidential sources identified Kerr as a target of an investigation.
From Los Angeles Times
Those illegal practices include the “misappropriation of confidential information in breach of a pre-existing duty of trust and confidence to the source of the information.”
From Barron's
This month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that he was holding "confidential talks with the French president about European nuclear deterrence".
From Barron's
After the firefighters testified over the course of three weeks, city attorneys invoked a general protective order that any party in the litigation can designate testimony as confidential for up to 30 days.
From Los Angeles Times
The bar’s investigation into his firm, he noted, was supposed to be kept confidential as well.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
