confess

[ kuhn-fes ]

verb (used with object)

1. to acknowledge or avow (a fault, crime, misdeed, weakness, etc.) by way of revelation.

   Antonyms: conceal

2. to own or admit as true:

   I must confess that I haven't read the book.

   Synonyms: concede, grant

   Antonyms: deny

3. to declare or acknowledge (one's sins), especially to God or a priest in order to obtain absolution.
4. (of a priest) to hear the confession of (a person).
5. to acknowledge one's belief or faith in; declare adherence to.
6. to reveal by circumstances.

verb (used without object)

1. to make confession plead guilty; own:

   to confess to a crime.

2. to make confession of sins, especially to a priest.
3. (of a priest) to hear confession.

confess

/ kənˈfɛs /

verb

1. whenintr, often foll by to to make an acknowledgment or admission (of faults, misdeeds, crimes, etc)
2. tr to admit or grant to be true; concede
3. Christianity RC Church to declare (one's sins) to God or to a priest as his representative, so as to obtain pardon and absolution

Derived Forms

• conˈfessable, adjective

Other Words From

• con·fessa·ble adjective
• con·fessingly adverb
• half-con·fessed adjective
• precon·fess verb (used with object)
• uncon·fessed adjective
• uncon·fessing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of confess¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of confess¹

C14: from Old French confesser, from Late Latin confessāre, from Latin confessus confessed, from confitērī to admit, from fatērī to acknowledge; related to Latin fārī to speak

Synonym Study

See acknowledge.

Example Sentences

Yin Hongzhang confessed to expediting Sinovac’s vaccine certifications in return.

From Washington Post

When Mahomes was drafted in 2017, Hill confessed this week, he didn’t think much of his would-be partner.

From Washington Post

The jury was split 10 to 2 on most of the robbery charges and 11 to 1 on the rest, and Edwards — who police said confessed — was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

From Washington Post

She confessed to the police that she had stolen drugs and patients’ property.

From ProPublica

“I never wanted to play guitar,” he confessed at a talk at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 2015.

From Fortune

I have to confess, I had no idea that Whitney had a rumored gay lover before reading about your role in this movie.

From The Daily Beast

And, again, I now confess, I had an occasional Bourbon and stoogie on the cuff.

From The Daily Beast

I will now confess that I spent some time in the lobby of the Willard Hotel myself.

From The Daily Beast

Spitz “persuaded Schwend that his best chance would be to confess his activities with the RSHA and to cooperate with us.”

From The Daily Beast

During their incarceration, they were humiliated and forced to confess on national television.

From The Daily Beast

When the father had finished, he stabbed his wife, telling her to repent of her sins and to confess to God who would pardon her.

From Project Gutenberg

Pride forbade him to confess himself a homeless, penniless vagabond.

From Project Gutenberg

If I were a vain man I should confess that they rather gave themselves away.

From Project Gutenberg

And yet the demand has the clearest and strongest basis of natural and eternal justice, as any fair mind must confess.

From Project Gutenberg

At last even Massna had to confess himself beaten and fall back on Santarem.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• acknowledge
• assert
• blurt out
• concede
• confide
• declare
• disclose
• divulge
• profess
• prove
• recognize
• relate
• reveal