confidential

English

Etymology

From Latin confidentia +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkɑːnfɪˈdɛnʃl/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

confidential (comparative more confidential, superlative most confidential)

1. Kept, or meant to be kept, secret within a certain circle of persons; not intended to be known publicly

   Synonyms: private, classified, off the record, privileged, secret, dern (obsolete)

   Antonyms: public, on the record

   The newspaper claims a leaked confidential report by the government admits to problems with corrupt MPs.

   • 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, Book 6, Chapter 61, p. 355,^[1]

     […] I have a communication of a very private—indeed, I will say, of a sacredly confidential nature, which I desire to make to you.

   • 1960, Muriel Spark, The Bachelors, Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1961, Chapter 10, p. 163,^[2]

     It would tell against your reputation, losing a confidential document, wouldn’t it? Why didn’t you keep it confidential if it was confidential?

2. (dated) 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.

   • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter 16, in Mansfield Park: […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II or III), London: […] T[homas] Egerton, […], OCLC 39810224, [https:// page 310]:

     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.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 11, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299, page 60:

     I was only alive to the condensed confidential comfortableness of sharing a pipe and a blanket with a real friend.

   • 1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, New York: Scribner, Book 2, Chapter 2, p. 329,^[3]

     She and Bertha had never been on confidential terms, but at such a crisis the barriers of reserve must surely fall:

   • 1923, Arnold Bennett, Riceyman Steps, London: Cassell, Part 5, Chapter 2, p. 241,^[4]

     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.

3. (dated) Having someone's confidence or trust; having a position requiring trust; worthy of being trusted with confidences.

   a confidential agent; a confidential servant; a confidential whisper

   • 1819, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], OCLC 277985465, page 168:

     Now, they want me to send up a confidential person with some writings.

   • 1848, Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, London: T.C. Newby, Volume 1, Chapter 18, pp. 320-321,^[5]

     This paper will serve instead of a confidential friend into whose ear I might pour forth the overflowings of my heart.

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, chapter 3, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], OCLC 906152507, book I (Recalled to Life), page 11:

     […] perhaps the confidential bachelor clerks in Tellson’s Bank were principally occupied with the cares of other people;

   • 1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not ..., London: Duckworth, Part 2, Chapter 2, p. 245,^[6]

     I repeated the instruction by letter and I kept a copy of the letter witnessed by my confidential maid.

   • 1959, Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan, New York: Dial, 2006, Chapter 6, p. 155,^[7]

     “He said he was a confidential messenger,” shouted a man.

Derived terms

• confidentiality
• confidentially

Related terms

• confide
• confidence

Translations

meant to be kept secret within a certain circle

• Arabic: سَرِّيّ‎ (sarriyy), خُصُوصِيّ‎ (ḵuṣūṣiyy)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: məxfi (az)
• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: та́ен (bg) (táen), повери́телен (bg) (poverítelen)
• Catalan: confidencial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 機密 (zh), 机密 (zh) (jīmì), 機要 (zh), 机要 (zh) (jīyào)

• Czech: důvěrný m
• Dutch: vertrouwelijk (nl)
• Finnish: luottamuksellinen (fi), salassa pidettävä
• French: confidentiel (fr)
• German: vertraulich (de)
• Hebrew: חסוי‎ (khasui)
• Hungarian: bizalmas (hu), titkos (hu)
• Icelandic: leynilegur (is), heimullegur
• Irish: rúnda
• Italian: confidenziale (it), riservato (it)
• Japanese: 親展 (ja) (しんてん, shinten)

• Maori: matatapu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: konfidensiell, fortrolig (no)

  Nynorsk: konfidensiell

• Polish: poufny (pl)
• Portuguese: confidencial, secreto (pt)
• Romanian: confidențial (ro)
• Russian: конфиденциа́льный (ru) (konfidenciálʹnyj), та́йный (ru) (tájnyj), довери́тельный (ru) (doverítelʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: dìomhair, diùrraiseach, fo rùn
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: поверљив

  Roman: poverljiv (sh)

• Slovene: zaupen
• Spanish: confidencial (es)
• Swedish: konfidentiell (sv)
• Thai: ลับเฉพาะ (láp chàpór), ลับ (th) (láp)
• Turkish: mahrem (tr)
• Ukrainian: конфіденційний (konfidencijnyj)
• Yiddish: אויגאויפֿאויגיק‎ (oygoyfoygik)