fess up

phrasal verb

fessed up; fessing up; fesses up
chiefly US, informal
: to admit that one has done something wrong : confess
At first he denied everything, but eventually he fessed up.
He finally fessed up about his involvement.

Examples of fess up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web McAvoy certainly isn't the first Hollywood star to fess up to crushing on Aniston. Shania Russell, EW.com, 12 Sep. 2024 Fans have started calling on Earle to either fess up and apologize or prove the allegations were false or fabricated. Sydney Lake, Fortune, 9 Aug. 2024 Eventually, this does convince Sadie to fess up to her editor, but surely Dale is not yet done with his revenge mission. Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 29 Mar. 2024 But praise was given for Palomar’s willingness to fess up to the incident. Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 June 2024 As in complications from the procedure, which forced Austin back to the hospital on Monday, Jan. 1, and the Pentagon to fess up late on Friday. Jamie McIntyre, Washington Examiner, 8 Jan. 2024 Why not fess up, take the witness stand, hire Pauline to defend her, and reap the fame that ensues? Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fess up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near fess up

Cite this Entry

“Fess up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fess%20up. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

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