confession

[ kuhn-fesh-uhn ]
See synonyms for: confessionconfessions on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. acknowledgment; avowal; admission: a confession of incompetence.

  2. acknowledgment or disclosure of sin or sinfulness, especially to a priest to obtain absolution.

  1. something that is confessed.

  2. a formal, usually written, acknowledgment of guilt by a person accused of a crime.

  3. Also called confession of faith. a formal profession of belief and acceptance of doctrines, as before being admitted to church membership.

  4. the tomb of a martyr or confessor or the altar or shrine connected with it.

Origin of confession

1
1350–1400; <Latin confessiōn- (stem of confessiō), equivalent to confess- (see confess) + -iōn--ion; replacing Middle English confessioun<Anglo-French

Other words from confession

  • pre·con·fes·sion, noun

Words Nearby confession

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use confession in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for confession

confession

/ (kənˈfɛʃən) /


noun
  1. the act of confessing

  2. something confessed

  1. an acknowledgment or declaration, esp of one's faults, misdeeds, or crimes

  2. Christianity, mainly RC Church the act of a penitent accusing himself or herself of his or her sins

  3. confession of faith a formal public avowal of religious beliefs

  4. a religious denomination or sect united by a common system of beliefs

Derived forms of confession

  • confessionary, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for confession

confession

In some churches, notably the Roman Catholic Church, a sacrament in which repentant sinners individually or as a group privately confess their sins in front of a priest and receive absolution from the guilt of their sins.

In the first few centuries of Christianity, repentant sinners were assigned public penances: sinners had to stay outside the entrance of the church and ask the people going inside to pray for them. The period of public penance could be shortened through an indulgence.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.