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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for owning (up)
Verb
-
In the 2015 timeline, Bree is about to marry Evan, though their relationship will no doubt be complicated by Stephen having sent her a voice memo of Evan confessing to his one-night stand with Lucy.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
14 Jan. 2026 -
More than 18,000 people have been detained and at least 97 individuals have been coerced into confessing for their crimes on state television, per the organization.—
Ashleigh Fields,
The Hill,
14 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
That line admitting the control-room flub was later scratched from the streaming version.—
Madeleine Marr,
Miami Herald,
8 Jan. 2026
-
Doss runs four two-week sessions a year, each admitting about 30 students with the top scores on a basic adult education exam taken at orientation.—
Claire Rafford,
IndyStar,
6 Jan. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Owning (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/owning%20%28up%29. Accessed 18 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
