Meaning of confidence In English

• 0 the quality of being certain of your abilities or of having trust in people, plans, or the future:

  • [ + to infinitive ] He has the confidence to walk into a room of strangers and immediately start a conversation.

  • She's completely lacking in confidence.

  • I have every/complete confidence in her. She'll be perfect for the job.

  • [ + that ] I don't share your confidence that the market will improve next year.

• 1 a secret that you tell someone:

  • They talked endlessly, exchanging confidences.

  • I should never have taken him into my confidence.

• 2 a feeling of having little doubt about yourself and your abilities, or a feeling of trust in someone or something:

  • He has a sense of confidence, even arrogance, about what he does.

  • Consumers’ confidence in the economy is strong.

  • Her colleagues lost confidence in her.

• 3 a secret, or a feeling of trust that a secret will be kept:

  • [ C ] They exchanged confidences like old friends.

  • [ U ] I’m telling you this in confidence.

• 4 a feeling that you can trust someone or something to work well or behave as you expect:

  • The index fell 3.1% as investors lost confidence in bank shares.

  • have confidence in sb/sth "I have the utmost confidence in him, and know he will lead this franchise to continued success and growth," West said.

  • Leitch warns that the insurance industry must raise standards to win back the confidence of investors.

• 5 a feeling that an economic situation will improve:

  • Business confidence has plunged and home sales have collapsed.

  • destroy/restore confidence Yesterday's announcement is a timely and important step toward restoring global economic confidence.

• 6 the quality of being certain of your own ability to do things well:

  • Our latest recruit is very intelligent but lacking in confidence.

  • boost/shatter/shake sb's confidence One aim of the appraisal meetings is to boost the confidence of your team members.

• 7 if you tell someone something in confidence, it is with the agreement that they will not tell anyone else:

  • Insiders are barred from using significant business information that they have received in confidence.