confident

«confident» in Mova's school dictionary: feeling sure that you can do something well: a confident… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (confident, more confident, most confident); adverb (confidently)

meaning for a pupil

1) Confident means feeling sure that you can do something well: a confident swimmer. tree →

2) Confident means sure that something will happen or is true: I'm confident we'll win. tree →

sense in the lessons

At school, teachers help pupils feel confident speaking in front of the class, reading aloud and trying hard maths problems; confidence grows with practice and making mistakes. In safety, being confident to say «no» and to ask for help is important. In stories, a confident character may be brave or, if too confident, may make mistakes (overconfident, like the hare in «The Tortoise and the Hare»). Phrases: confident about, confident that, confident in, feel confident, self-confident.

examples

• I feel confident about my spelling test. tree →
• She is a confident swimmer now. tree →
• The teacher was confident that we would finish on time. tree →
• Practice makes you more confident. tree →
• He walked confidently onto the stage. tree →
• The hare was so confident he would win that he took a nap. tree →
• They talked of Cinderella, and Tootles was confident that his mother must have been very like her. tree →

note

Adjective; noun «confidence», adverb «confidently». Trap: «confident» (sure of yourself) vs «confidant» (a person you trust with secrets) — similar spelling. Opposite: unsure, nervous, shy. Being confident is different from showing off.

In the corpora

• A confident made-up answer from a bot is called a hallucination.
• Confident writing makes people trust it, but confidence is not proof.
• Confident speakers still feel nervous; practising, breathing slowly and starting with a smile help.
• "Confident speaker" on a report can mean the pupil talks over other children.
• Children who greet adults themselves, instead of hiding behind a parent, seem confident and polite.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «confident» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.