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
- 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:[…] 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, chapter 10, in The Bachelors, Philadelphia: Lippincott, published 1961, page 163:It would tell against your reputation, losing a confidential document, wouldn’t it? Why didn’t you keep it confidential if it was confidential?
- (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 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, in Mansfield Park: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, 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.
1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, New York: Scribner, Book 2, Chapter 2, p. 329: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: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.
- (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
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url=https://archive.org/details/talesofmylandlor32scot/page/168
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volumes (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, page 168:Now, they want me to send up a confidential person with some writings.
1848, Anne Brontë, chapter 18, in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, volume 1, London: T.C. Newby, pages 320–321:This paper will serve instead of a confidential friend into whose ear I might pour forth the overflowings of my heart.
1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not ..., London: Duckworth, Part 2, Chapter 2, p. 245:I repeated the instruction by letter and I kept a copy of the letter witnessed by my confidential maid.
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: канфідэнцыяльны (kanfidencyjalʹny), тайны (be) (tajny), таемны (tajemny), патаемны (patajemny)
- Bulgarian: та́ен (bg) (táen), повери́телен (bg) (poverítelen)
- Catalan: confidencial (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 機密/机密 (zh) (jīmì), 機要/机要 (zh) (jīyào)
- Czech: důvěrný
- Dutch: vertrouwelijk (nl)
- Finnish: luottamuksellinen (fi), salassa pidettävä
- French: confidentiel (fr)
- Galician: confidencial
- 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 (pt), 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), povjerljiv (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)
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