owning (up)

verb

present participle of own (up)
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for owning (up)
  1. confessing
  2. admitting
Verb
  • Of course, confessing to any involvement in Haleigh’s disappearance could also land Trinity in a lot more trouble.
    — Dateline NBC, NBC news, 20 Aug. 2026
  • After posting a video earlier this week asking if anyone else couldn’t stop purchasing diamonds via TikTok, his comment section quickly flooded with more than a thousand replies from people across the country, all confessing their little secret.
    — Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of confessing
Verb
  • In 2022, after Foulkes had left CVS, the company agreed to pay $5 billion to settle lawsuits nationwide over the toll of opioids, without admitting wrongdoing.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 5 Sep. 2026
  • Selling a piece of it feels like admitting the story is over.
    — Anatoly Iofe, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of admitting
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.

Browse Nearby Words

owning
owning (up)
owning (up to)
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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 12 Sep. 2026.

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