as in confessing
to make an acknowledgment of something unpleasant as true or valid
had a strong suspicion about which coworker stole her food from the office fridge, but the likely culprit refused to own up
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for owning (up)
Verb
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Also on Monday, Miranda barred Jones’ attorneys from presenting evidence related to other people confessing to the murder, allegedly placing a hit on Pata and threatening Pata before his killing.—
Grethel Aguila,
Miami Herald,
2 Feb. 2026 -
In a series of studies at Ohio University, participants viewed videos of people confessing to crimes.—
Jackie Flynn Mogensen,
Scientific American,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Her fellow model Alex Consani followed suit, admitting that Yai influenced her to try out the hack.—
Ranyechi Udemezue,
Vogue,
6 Feb. 2026
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Walmart, Kentucky Legend respond to weight, price miscalculations At least one of the meat manufacturers, Kentucky Legend, posted a statement on its website admitting an error at a store, but not the one that Wrigg had visited.—
Betty Lin-Fisher,
USA Today,
6 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Owning (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/owning%20%28up%29. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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