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self-confident

self-confident

11 3.2
Feeling sure about your own abilities and worth
  • adjective
  • /ˌsɛlfˈkɒnfɪdənt/
translation icon : seguro de sí mismo
  • After weeks of practice, she felt self-confident about her ability to deliver the presentation.
  • more self-confident
  • feeling self-confident
  • strong and self-confident

There's a big difference between being self confident and being conceited.

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Examples

  • I raised Poppy to be strong and self-confident.

  • You’re a remarkably self-confident young man.

  • I'd like to see the Jewish voice much more self confident and willing to engage with the world.

  • Individuals, therefore, who have experienced success will feel more self-confident and be more confident about future performance.

    Academic text (1996)
  • To be an effective user of direct payments, you have to be self-confident.

    Academic text (2009)
  • I feel healthier, more grounded, and self-confident at 30 than I ever have.

    Blog text (5)
  • Miss Adah was one of those gracious, self-confident women who used to be the products of regular army families.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • As Korean society becomes more prosperous and self-confident, it has become less tolerant of inconvenience and unfortunate incidents.

    Academic text (2003)
  • He approached the interview with a self-confident smile, knowing he was well-prepared.

  • Her self-confident demeanor helped her lead the team successfully through the project.

Synonyms

confident
vsself-confident
715 2.5

Feeling sure about yourself or what will happen

is about assurance in one's abilities or worth rather than factual certainty
feeling confident
vsself-confident
46 3.0

Being sure you can do something well

is general assurance without stressing extreme certainty or intensity
self-assured
vsself-confident
11 4.1

Confident about your abilities and decisions

is the same meaning but uses a slightly different phrasing
5 5.6

Feeling calm and confident about who you are

is focused on ability and worth assurance rather than identity ease
self-possessed
vsself-confident
3 7.2

Calm and confident in control of your feelings in difficult situations

is about inner assurance more generally, not mainly emotional control
ultraconfident
vsself-confident
5.8

Very sure about yourself and what you can do

is moderate assurance rather than extreme certainty about abilities
superconfident
vsself-confident
  • Informal
5.2

Feeling very sure about your abilities and success

is normal assurance rather than the heightened certainty shown here

Antonyms

131 3.4

Not confident about yourself or your skills

How Confident

overconfident
19 5.3
self-assured
11 4.1
self-confident
11 3.2
insecure
131 3.4
unsure
89 1.5

Surface Forms

self-confident positive

Morphology

self-confident = self + confident (transparent) = self + confident

The meaning is directly derived from 'self' + 'confident' (confidence in oneself) and follows a productive English pattern.

Etymology

Self-confident comes from self ('oneself') and confident (as in confidence, 'trust'), giving the image of a person who trusts themselves. So, self-confident means feeling sure about your own skills and abilities.