confessionary

[ kuhn-fesh-uh-ner-ee ]

adjective

1. of or relating to confession, especially auricular confession of sins.

noun

, plural con·fes·sion·ar·ies.

1. Archaic. a confessional.

Word History and Origins

Origin of confessionary¹

1600–10; < Medieval Latin confessiōnārius, equivalent to confessiōn- confession + -ārius -ary

Example Sentences

The confessionary monologist was one of a parade of arts-world heavy-hitters who visited Bumbershoot around the turn of the millennium.

From Seattle Times

There were a few persons—not the model men of the community—to whom he occasionally unbent and whom he admitted to a sort of comradeship, which, as his diary shows, often became confessionary upon their part.

From Project Gutenberg

Bartholomè de Alva refers to them in a passage of his Confessionary.

From Project Gutenberg

To reach these altars, a certain crypt which the Romans call a Confessionary had to be ascended by means of several steps from the choir of the singers.

From Project Gutenberg

This crypt was fabricated beneath in the likeness of the confessionary of St. Peter, the vault of which was raised so high that the part above could only be reached by many steps.”

From Project Gutenberg