Confess

Definition of Confess

Con`fess´
v. t.1.To make acknowledgment or avowal in a matter pertaining to one's self; to acknowledge, own, or admit, as a crime, a fault, a debt.
[imp. & p. p. Confessed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Confessing.]
And there confess
Humbly our faults, and pardon beg.
- Milton.
I must confess I was most pleased with a beautiful prospect that none of them have mentioned.
- Addison.
2.To acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in.
Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess, also, before my Father which is in heaven.
- Matt. x. 32.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both.
- Acts xxiii. 8.
3.To admit as true; to assent to; to acknowledge, as after a previous doubt, denial, or concealment.
I never gave it him. Send for him hither,
And let him confess a truth.
- Shak.
As I confess it needs must be.
- Tennyson.
As an actor confessed without rival to shine.
- Goldsmith.
4.(Eccl.) To make known or acknowledge, as one's sins to a priest, in order to receive absolution; - sometimes followed by the reflexive pronoun.
Our beautiful votary took an opportunity of confessing herself to this celebrated father.
- Addison.
5.To hear or receive such confession; - said of a priest.
He . . . heard mass, and the prince, his son, with him, and the most part of his company were confessed.
- Ld. Berners.
5.To disclose or reveal, as an effect discloses its cause; to prove; to attest.
Tall thriving trees confessed the fruitful mold.
- Pope.
v. i.1.To make confession; to disclose sins or faults, or the state of the conscience.
Every tongue shall confess to God.
- Rom. xiv. 11.
2.To acknowledge; to admit; to concede.
But since
(And I confess with right) you think me bound.
- Tennyson.

Related Words

absolve, accept, account for, accredit with, accrete to, administer absolution, administer extreme unction, admit everything, affirm, agree provisionally, allow, apply to, ascribe to, assent grudgingly, assert, asseverate, assign to, attach to, attribute to, aver, avouch, blame, blame for, blame on, bring home to, charge on, charge to, come clean, confirm, connect with, cop a plea, credit with, declare, disclose, express general agreement, express the belief, fasten upon, father upon, fix on, fix upon, go along with, hang on, hear confession, impute to, lay to, let on, make confession, not oppose, open up, out with it, own, own up, pin on, pinpoint, place upon, plead guilty, point to, profess, receive absolution, recognize, refer to, reveal, saddle on, saddle with, set down to, settle upon, shrive, spill, spill it, spit it out, state, swear, tell all, tell the truth, testify, vow, warrant, yield
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