different between confidential vs inviolable

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 French inviolable, from Latin inviol?bilis (“untouchable”), from viol? (“violate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?va??l?bl?/
• Hyphenation: in?vi?o?la?ble

Adjective

inviolable (comparative more inviolable, superlative most inviolable)

1. Not violable; not to be infringed.

   Synonyms: unbreakable, unbreachable

   Antonyms: (incapable of being complied) incompliable, (capable of being violated) violable, (capable of being violated) breakable

2. Not susceptible to violence, or of being profaned, corrupted, or dishonoured.

   Synonyms: holy, sacred, sacrosanct

   Antonym: violable

3. Incapable of being injured or invaded; indestructible.

   Synonyms: invincible, unassailable

   Antonym: invadable

Derived terms

Translations

References

• inviolable in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• inviolable in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

French

Etymology

From Latin inviol?bilis (“untouchable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.vj?.labl/
• Homophone: inviolables

Adjective

inviolable (plural inviolables)

1. inviolable

Further reading

• “inviolable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin inviol?bilis (“untouchable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /imbjo?lable/, [?m.bjo?la.??le]

Adjective

inviolable (plural inviolables)

1. inviolable