opposite of 'confident'

[tamguatlay]

What is the opposite of 'confident'? All along I thought that it was 'inconfident'. Then a friend of mine said that it should be 'unconfident'. But I can't find the word in my dictionary. Is she correct?

Many thanks.

Best regards

Miss Tam

[Josef]

The words "inconfident" and "unconfident" do not exist in English.

Wordsmyth.net gives the following antonyms for "confident":

- apprehensive, hesitant, tentative, uncertain
- bashful, beaten, diffident, insecure, self-conscious, shy, tentative, timid, tremulous

For a more precise/direct "opposite" of "confident" you could also describe someone as "lacking in confidence" or say that s/he "lacks confidence".

[Vega]

Excuse me, Josef, but in Oxford Dictionary of English, Revised Edition. © Oxford University Press 2005. the word unconfident exists.

Some antonyms: vacillating, unsure, unsteady

[Josef]

Excuse me, Josef, but in Oxford Dictionary of English, Revised Edition. © Oxford University Press 2005. the word unconfident exists.

Thank you Vega, you are right. In fact, if I'd taken the trouble to look in my simple little Concise Oxford Dictionary I would have found unconfident.

However, it is an extremely rare adjective today. Many people would find it clumsy or awkward and would prefer not confident or lacking confidence etc.

[clevermae]

I would rather say it's "unsure" in the opposite of confident.