confidence

Universal Words noun belief in others 1 [U] ~ (in sb/sth) the feeling that you can trust, believe in and be sure about the abilities or good qualities of sb/sth: The players all have confidence in their manager. * A fall in unemployment will help to restore consumer confidence. * a lack of confidence in the government * The new contracts have undermined the confidence of employees. * She has every confidence in her students' abilities. seealsoVOTEOFCONFIDENCE, VOTEOFNOCONFIDENCE belief in yourself 2 [U] a belief in your own ability to do things and be successful: He answered the questions with confidence. * Women often lose confidence when they stop work to have a baby. * He gained confidence when he went to college. * She suffers from a lack of confidence. * While girls lack confidence, boys often overestimate their abilities. * I didn't have any confidence in myself at school. feeling certain 3 [U] the feeling that you are certain about sth: They could not say with confidence that he would be able to walk again after the accident. * No one can predict with complete / total confidence what will happen in the financial markets. * He expressed his confidence that they would win. trust 4 [U] a feeling of trust that sb will keep information private: Eva told me about their relationship in confidence. * This is in the strictest confidence. * It took a long time to gain her confidence (= make her feel she could trust me). a secret 5 [C] (formal) a secret that you tell sb: The girls exchanged confidences. * I could never forgive Mike for betraying a confidence. IDIOMS be in sb's confidence to be trusted with sb's secrets: He is said to be very much in the President's confidence. take sb into your confidence to tell sb secrets and personal information about yourself: She took me into her confidence and told me about the problems she was facing.