Here's something I needed to clarify for myself at work last night. I wasn't confident about how to spell the word confidant, and I was sure that I'd seen it spelled confidante a few times. Which spelling is which?
I looked them up in Webster's. Here are the distinctions: Confident is an adjective meaning sure or certain. A confidant is a person held in confidence (e.g., a trusted friend). A confidante is a female confidant.
That last spelling reminds me that people often stumble over the words fiance and fiancée, the former being the man and the latter the woman in a state of betrothal.
So keep in mind that you can't have a fiance as a confidante, even in a state that allows gay marriage!
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