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. 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

Other Word Forms

• confessable adjective
• confessingly adverb
• half-confessed adjective
• preconfess verb (used with object)
• unconfessed adjective
• unconfessing 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

“Let’s let the people decide,” he said, after confessing his marital sins.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Then, at the very end, he confesses that the thing was never loaded in the first place.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Bones also confessed she was surprised she won the "roast" challenge, where the contestants have to write and perform jokes about their fellow contestants.

Read more on BBC

She confesses she "kind of hated" the instrument when she first started, but says she grew to love it.

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Unable to speak to his son for nine months, Mr Ibrahim has only heard accounts of his detention through court documents and says his son was forced to confess.

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Related Words

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