What does confess mean?

Definitions for confess
kənˈfɛscon·fess

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word confess.

Princeton's WordNet

  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

  1. confessverb

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

  2. confessverb

    To disclose or reveal

    People confess to anything under torture.

  3. 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).

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To CONFESSverb

    Etymology: confesser, Fr. confiteor confessum, Latin.

    He doth in some sort confess it. If it be confessed, it is not redressed. William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor.

    Human faults with human grief confess;
    ’Tis thou art chang’d. Matthew Prior.

    Confess thee freely of thy sin;
    For to deny each article with oath,
    Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception. William Shakespeare, Othello.

    If our sin be only against God, yet to confess it to his minister may be of good use. William Wake, Preparation for Death.

    Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my father which is in heaven; but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my father which is in heaven. Matt. x. 32, 33.

    They may have a clear view of good, great and confessed good, without being concerned, if they can make up their happiness without it. John Locke.

    Tall thriving trees confess’d the fruitful mold;
    The red’ning apple ripens here to gold. Alexander Pope, Odyssey, b. vii.

    I must confess I was most pleased with a beautiful prospect, that none of them have mentioned. Joseph Addison, on Italy.

  2. To Confessverb

    To make confession; to disclose; to reveal; as, he is gone to the priest to confess.

Wikipedia

  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 guitarist George Barnes (musician), whose trio accompanied Page on the record, and who had been experimenting with multi-track recording with engineer Bill Putnam, 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. The Day/Clark recording was recorded on November 21, 1947, and issued by Columbia Records as catalog number 38174, and first reached the Billboard chart on June 26, 1948, lasting 11 weeks and peaking at #16 on the chart. The Page recording was recorded on December 3, 1947, and released by Mercury Records as catalog number 5129, with the flip side “Twelve O'Clock Flight” (also later as catalog number 5511), and first reached the Billboard chart on July 2, 1948, lasting 10 weeks and peaking at #12.

ChatGPT

  1. confess

    To confess means to admit or acknowledge something, often a wrongdoing, guilt, offense, or mistake. It typically refers to stating truthfully about something one deemed to conceal, usually in a legal, religious, or personal context. This admission can also be an affirmation of one's beliefs or feelings.

Webster Dictionary

  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

Wikidata

  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

  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, confessuscon, sig. completeness, and fatērifāri, to speak.]

Suggested Resources

  1. Confess

    Admit vs. Confess -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Admit and Confess.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Verbs Frequency

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

How to pronounce confess?

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. Douglas Kirkland:

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

  2. Trev McKendry:

    Ilkhani, 21 -- were arrested in their hometown of Tehran on November 10, 2015by the Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, according to the music blog Loudwire. Citing a letter from a friend of the band posted on the Canadian music site Metal Nation Radio, it says the two were charged with blasphemy, advertising against the system, forming and operating an underground record label that promotes the satanic metal/rock style of music, writing religious, atheistic, political and anarchistic lyrics, and interviewing with radio stations based in other nations. The letter said the pair had been held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison for nearly two months in solitary confinement, were only released on Feb. 5 after they paid 1,000,000,000 Rial( about $ 30,000), and now await trial. Trev McKendry, who posted the anonymous letter on Metal Nation Radio, posted a video on YouTube telling Confess that the global heavy metal community is behind them. I've taken [ spreading the word ] upon myself because my source, who is close to the band, reached out to me and specifically said that they asked me to help.

  3. 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.

  4. Barack Obama:

    I'm the first to confess, you know, I was not able to give this message effectively, it's just not the stuff that moved people to vote, and the other side didn't get punished for it.

  5. Michael Ibsen:

    I have to confess there have been times when I've stood back at the end of the day alone in the workshop and think' gosh I'm making Richard III's coffin'.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

confess#10000#18387#100000

Translations for confess

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"confess." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/confess>.

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