confidential
/kɒnfɪˈdɛnʃ(ə)l
/adjective
1Intended to be kept secret: confidential information...
- The first public interest is the preservation of the right of organisations, as of individuals, to keep secret confidential information.
- We have received much more confidential and secret information than this in my time on this and other courts.
- Yes, because that does not seek to protect only confidential information or trade secrets.
Synonyms
private, personal, intimate, privileged, quiet;
secret, top secret, sensitive, classified, restricted, non-public, unofficial, off the record, not for publication, not for circulation, not to be made public, not to be disclosed, under wraps, unrevealed, undisclosed, unpublished;
Latin sub rosa
informal hush-hush, mum
archaic privy
1.1(Of a person’s tone of voice) indicating that what one says is private or secret: he dropped his voice to a confidential whisper...
- Have you, they ask in confidential tones, recently bought an item for close to £500 online?
- You get this letter which starts in a very confidential tone.
- He said it just as he had before, in a confidential whisper.
1.2 [attributive] Entrusted with private or restricted information: a confidential secretary...
- And as a precondition, he insisted on bringing her with him to the CIA as his confidential assistant.
- And it's perfectly understandable why he would want to choose someone of compatible political views to be his confidential assistant.
- At the end of a year his master, well satisfied with his conduct, received him into his house, and subsequently made him his confidential assistant.
