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

These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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