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
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for owning (up)
Verb
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Nicky grows more comfortable and confident in his relationship with Tareq, eventually confessing to his mom and sister Natalie.—
Francesca Gariano,
PEOPLE,
10 Apr. 2026 -
However, Bundy reportedly failed to recall if Aime was among his victims while confessing to several homicides throughout Utah.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Google agreed to pay without admitting fault after a group of consumers sued in 2020 over the Android OS draining their cellular data without their permission.—
Michael Kan,
PC Magazine,
8 Apr. 2026
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That’s despite Microsoft admitting in its own Copilot terms of service that the AI shouldn’t be relied upon for virtually any important work.—
Victor Tangermann,
Futurism,
8 Apr. 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 19 Apr. 2026.
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