confessor

American  

[kuhn-fes-er] / kənˈfɛs ər /

Or confesser

noun

1. a person who confesses.

2. a priest authorized to hear confessions.

3. a person who confesses faith in and adheres to the Christian religion, especially in spite of persecution and torture but without suffering martyrdom.

4. the Confessor. Edward the Confessor.

---

confessor British  

/ kənˈfɛsə /

noun

1. Christianity RC Church a priest who hears confessions and sometimes acts as a spiritual counsellor

2. history a person who bears witness to his Christian religious faith by the holiness of his life, esp in resisting threats or danger, but does not suffer martyrdom

3. a person who makes a confession

---

Etymology

Origin of confessor

before 1000; Middle English, Old English (in pl: confessores ) < Late Latin; see confess, -tor

Example Sentences

And in the second act, he has a crucial existential colloquy with Marianne, Rachel Bay Jones’ wealthy airhead, who reveals a surprising amount of depth in a philosophical back and forth with her uncertain confessor.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 11, 2023

Opened in 1804, the 110-acre cemetery — named after Louis XIV’s confessor, the Rev. François de La Chaise d’Aix — perches on a hillside peering down at central Paris.

From New York Times • Dec. 28, 2022

When the Father arose his confessor grasped him by the hand, and after a few words had been exchanged, Father Dupiéreux advanced alone in the direction of the wood.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

He listens to his old acquaintance’s monologue through “an increasing indefinable discomfort” that he is being used, while accepting the ego boost he gets from playing Cook’s confessor.

From Washington Post • Jan. 11, 2022

“It’s a private story. Almost like a secret, between myself, my confessor Prior Michelangelo, and God. I can tell you, can’t I? You won’t tell anyone?”

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz