confess

con·fess

verb \kən-ˈfes\

Definition of CONFESS

transitive verb

1

: to tell or make known (as something wrong or damaging to oneself) : admit <he confessed his guilt>

2

a : to acknowledge (sin) to God or to a priest

b : to receive the confession of (a penitent)

3

: to declare faith in or adherence to : profess

4

: to give evidence of

intransitive verb

1

a : to disclose one's faults; specifically : to unburden one's sins or the state of one's conscience to God or to a priest

b : to hear a confession

2

: admit, own <confess to a crime>

— con·fess·able \-ˈfe-sə-bəl\ adjective

Examples of CONFESS

1. He confessed after being questioned for many hours.
2. He willingly confessed his crime.
3. I have to confess that I was afraid at first.
4. I confessed my sins to the priest.

Origin of CONFESS

Middle English, from Anglo-French confesser, from confés having confessed, from Latin confessus, past participle of confitēri to confess, from com- + fatēri to confess; akin to Latin fari to speak — more at ban

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to CONFESS

Synonyms

admit, cop (to) [slang], fess (up), own (up)

Antonyms

deny

Related Words

blab, talk, tattle; babble, spill

Near Antonyms

clam up, hush, quiet (down), shut up

See Synonym Discussion at acknowledge

Rhymes with CONFESS

abscess, access, address, aggress, assess, bench-press, caress, clothespress, coatdress, cold-press, compress, cross-dress, CS, depress, de-stress, digress, distress, drill press, egress, excess, express, finesse, fluoresce, French press, full-dress, handpress, headdress, housedress, idlesse, impress, ingress, Meknes, much less, nightdress, noblesse, no less, obsess, oppress, outguess, possess, precess, prestress, princess, process, profess, progress, recess, redress, regress, re-press, repress, shirtdress, side-dress, SS, success, sundress, suppress, tendresse, top-dress, transgress, undress, unless, web press, winepress, word stress