different between confidential vs crafty

English

Etymology

From Latin confidentia +? -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k??nf??d?n?l/

Adjective

confidential (comparative more confidential, superlative most confidential)

1. 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

   • 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, Book 6, Chapter 61, p. 355,^[1]

     […] 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, The Bachelors, Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1961, Chapter 10, p. 163,^[2]

     It would tell against your reputation, losing a confidential document, wouldn’t it? Why didn’t you keep it confidential if it was confidential?

2. (dated) Inclined to share confidences; (of things) making people inclined to share confidences; involving the sharing of confidences.
   • 1814, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, Volume 3, Chapter 16, p. 310,^[3]

     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.

   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, New York: Harper Brothers, Chapter 11, p. 60,^[4]

     I was only alive to the condensed confidential comfortableness of sharing a pipe and a blanket with a real friend.

   • 1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, New York: Scribner, Book 2, Chapter 2, p. 329,^[5]

     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,^[6]

     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.

3. (dated) Having someone's confidence or trust; having a position requiring trust; worthy of being trusted with confidences.
   • 1819, Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable, Chapter 8, p. 168,^[7]

     Now, they want me to send up a confidential person with some writings.

   • 1848, Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, London: T.C. Newby, Volume 1, Chapter 18, pp. 320-321,^[8]

     This paper will serve instead of a confidential friend into whose ear I might pour forth the overflowings of my heart.

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, Chapter 3, p. 11,^[9]

     […] perhaps the confidential bachelor clerks in Tellson’s Bank were principally occupied with the cares of other people;

   • 1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not ..., London: Duckworth, Part 2, Chapter 2, p. 245,^[10]

     I repeated the instruction by letter and I kept a copy of the letter witnessed by my confidential maid.

   • 1959, Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan, New York: Dial, 2006, Chapter 6, p. 155,^[11]

     “He said he was a confidential messenger,” shouted a man.

Derived terms

• confidentiality
• confidentially

Related terms

• confide
• confidence

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English crafti, crefti, from Old English cræfti? (“ingenious; skilful; crafty; cunning; virtuous; powerful”), from Proto-Germanic *kraftagaz, *kraftugaz (“powerful”), equivalent to craft +? -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kräftich, West Frisian krêftich, Dutch krachtig, German Low German krachtig, German kräftig.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?k?æfti/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k???fti/

Adjective

crafty (comparative craftier, superlative craftiest)

1. Relating to, or characterized by, craft or skill; dexterous.
2. Possessing dexterity; skilled; skillful.
3. Skillful at deceiving others; characterized by craft

   Synonyms: cunning, wily

   • For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

   • 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games[1]

     Together, with the help of the drunkard Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), the only District 12 citizen ever to win the Games, they challenge tributes that range from sadistic volunteers to crafty kids like the pint-sized Rue (Amandla Stenberg) to the truly helpless and soon-to-be-dead.

4. Sneaky; surreptitious.

   I took a crafty look at his hand of cards while he was out of the room.

Synonyms

• (skillful): See also Thesaurus:skilled
• (cunning, wily): See also Thesaurus:wily

Translations