Definitions for confess
kənˈfɛscon·fess

Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. confess, squeal, finkverb

   confess to a punishable or reprehensible deed, usually under pressure

2. concede, profess, confessverb

   admit (to a wrongdoing)

   "She confessed that she had taken the money"

3. confessverb

   confess to God in the presence of a priest, as in the Catholic faith

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. confessverb

   To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed

   Etymology: From confessen, from confesser, from confesser, from confessāre, a derivative of confessus ( confes), past participle of confitērī "to confess, admit" from con- + fateri. Displaced andetten "to confess, admit" (from andettan).

2. confessverb

   To disclose or reveal

   People confess to anything under torture.

   Etymology: From confessen, from confesser, from confesser, from confessāre, a derivative of confessus ( confes), past participle of confitērī "to confess, admit" from con- + fateri. Displaced andetten "to confess, admit" (from andettan).

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Confessverb

   to make acknowledgment or avowal in a matter pertaining to one's self; to acknowledge, own, or admit, as a crime, a fault, a debt

2. Confessverb

   to acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in

3. Confessverb

   to admit as true; to assent to; to acknowledge, as after a previous doubt, denial, or concealment

4. Confessverb

   to make known or acknowledge, as one's sins to a priest, in order to receive absolution; -- sometimes followed by the reflexive pronoun

5. Confessverb

   to hear or receive such confession; -- said of a priest

6. Confessverb

   to disclose or reveal, as an effect discloses its cause; to prove; to attest

7. Confessverb

   to make confession; to disclose sins or faults, or the state of the conscience

8. Confessverb

   to acknowledge; to admit; to concede

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Confess

   "Confess" is a popular song written by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss. The song figures in the early careers of two important female singers: ⁕In 1947, Doris Day was making a transition from a Big band singer, most recently with Les Brown, to a solo vocalist. Her first major record away from the band was a duet with Buddy Clark, with this song on one side and "Love Somebody" on the other. The record became a two-sided hit, the first two of a string of hits for Day that made her one of the top female singers in popular music. ⁕About the same time, Mercury Records was planning to record the song as a vehicle for Frankie Laine. They were persuaded instead to give the song to a young female singer, who had not, at the time, a single hit: Patti Page. Page's manager, Jack Rael, succeeded in getting Mercury to let her record the song, but because of a low budget, a second singer could not be hired, so Rael suggested that Page sing the second part as well. The novelty of her doing two voices on one record probably contributed to the song becoming a top 20 hit for her. This became not only the first of many hits for Patti Page, but the first song on which a singer did more than one track. For Patti Page, multi-tracking became a trademark of her style, while others, such as Les Paul and Mary Ford, as well as Jane Turzy, took up this practice too.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Confess

   kon-fes′, v.t. to acknowledge fully, esp. something wrong: to own or admit: to make known, as sins to a priest: to hear a confession, as a priest.—v.i. to make confession.—ns. Confes′sion, acknowledgment of a crime or fault: avowal; a statement of one's religious belief: acknowledgment of sin to a priest; Confes′sional, the seat or enclosed recess where a priest hears confessions.—adj. pertaining to confession.—ns. Confes′sionalism; Confes′sionalist.—adj. Confes′sionary, of or belonging to confession.—n. a confessional.—ns. Confess′or, one who professes the Christian faith, or a priest who hears confessions and grants absolution: one who endures persecution but not death:—fem. Confess′oress; Confess′orship.—adjs. Confessed′, Confest′, admitted: avowed: evident.—advs. Confess′edly, Confest′ly.—Confession of Faith, a formulary embodying the religious beliefs of a church or sect: a creed.—Confess to, to admit, acknowledge; Stand confessed, to be revealed. [Fr. confesser—L. confitēri, confessus—con, sig. completeness, and fatēri—fāri, to speak.]

Matched Categories

1. • Admit

British National Corpus

1. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'confess' in Verbs Frequency: #821

How to pronounce confess?

1. Alex

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

How to say confess in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of confess in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of confess in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of confess in a Sentence

1. Ronald Reagan:

   This is the issue of this election : whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.

2. Epictetus:

   There are some things which men confess with ease, and others with difficulty.

3. Police Carl Frost:

   I look forward to the day that, hopefully, he'll sit down and just go right down the line and confess to every one of them that he did, he's probably the most prolific African American serial killer in U.S. history, I would say.

4. Douglas Kirkland:

   I must confess I woke up during the night on more than one occasion, wondering if I was in over my head.

5. Human Rights Watch:

   Police are torturing criminal suspects to get them to confess to crimes and courts are convicting people who confessed under torture.

Images & Illustrations of confess

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