confess
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to acknowledge or avow (a fault, crime, misdeed, weakness, etc.) by way of revelation.
- Antonyms:
- conceal
-
to own or admit as true.
I must confess that I haven't read the book.
- Antonyms:
- deny
-
to declare or acknowledge (one's sins), especially to God or a priest in order to obtain absolution.
-
(of a priest) to hear the confession of (a person).
-
to acknowledge one's belief or faith in; declare adherence to.
-
to reveal by circumstances.
verb (used without object)
-
to make confession plead guilty; own.
to confess to a crime.
-
to make confession of sins, especially to a priest.
-
(of a priest) to hear confession.
verb
-
to make an acknowledgment or admission (of faults, misdeeds, crimes, etc)
-
(tr) to admit or grant to be true; concede
-
Christianity RC Church to declare (one's sins) to God or to a priest as his representative, so as to obtain pardon and absolution
Related Words
See acknowledge.
Other Word Forms
- confessable adjective
- confessingly adverb
- half-confessed adjective
- preconfess verb (used with object)
- unconfessed adjective
- unconfessing adjective
Etymology
Origin of confess
1300–50; Middle English confessen < Anglo-French, Old French confesser < Medieval Latin confessāre, verbal derivative of Latin confessus, past participle of confitērī to admit, confess, equivalent to con- con- + -fitērī, combining form of fatērī to admit
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
