confessor

Or con·fess·er

[kuhn-fes-er]

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

/ 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of confessor¹

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

Example Sentences

But Walters was unstoppable, and as the 1980s and 1990s progressed, she became a mother confessor for perpetrators and victims of scandal.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

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.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He also coaxes his father’s former bodyguard/confessor Colin to come work for him.

Read more on New York Times

Times television critic Mary McNamara said Walters was part confessor, part therapist and succeeded brilliantly at making “emotion newsworthy.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He becomes the lord confessor, a nicer name for the royal torturer.

Read more on New York Times