Definitions for confess
kənˈfɛscon·fess

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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 DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. To CONFESSverb

   Etymology: confesser, Fr. confiteor confessum, Latin.

   1. To acknowledge a crime; to own a failure.

   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.

   2. It has of before the thing confessed, when it is used reciprocally.

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

   3. To disclose the state of the conscience to the priest, in order to repentance and pardon.

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

   4. To hear the confession of a penitent, as a priest.5. To own; to avow; to profess; not to deny.

   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.

   6. To grant; not to dispute.

   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.

   7. To shew; to prove; to attest.

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

   8. It is used in a loose and unimportant sense by way of introduction, or as an affirmative form of speech.

   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.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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

FreebaseRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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 DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

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.]

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Confess

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

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

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

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. Bernie Sanders:

   I must confess, I was dumb, during this campaign, I've been doing, in some cases three or four rallies a day, running all over the state -- Iowa, New Hampshire, wherever. And yet I, in the last month of two, just was more fatigued than I usually have been.

2. 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.

3. Ted Cruz:

   One portion of the book says,' Babies are taught to be racist or antiracist -- there is no neutrality.' Another portion of the book : They recommend that babies' confess when being racist,'.

4. Ted Cruz:

   When you just testified a minute ago that you didn't know of critical race theory… in K through 12, I will confess, I find that statement a little hard to reconcile with the public record, because if you look at the Georgetown Day School's curriculum, it is filled and overflowing with critical race theory… among… the books that are either assigned or recommended.

5. Andrea Velez:

   I confess that I sinned, but I paid a high price for my faults.

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