Link Centre Dictionary

confess

con·fess

UK/kənˈfɛs/ US/kʌˈnfɛs/ common

verb

1.
2.

admit, make a clean breast of

  • “She confessed that she had taken the money”
Synonyms
3.

confess to God in the presence of a priest, as in the Catholic faith

Origin

From Middle English confessen, from Anglo-Norman confesser, from Old French confesser, from Latin confessus (Old French confés), past participle of cōnfiteor (“to confess, admit”) from con- + fateor (“to admit”). Displaced Middle English andetten (“to confess, admit”) (from Old English andettan). Doublet of confiteor. Sense 6 is a semantic loan from Japanese 告(こく)白(はく) (kokuhaku).

Phrases

  • a fault confessed is half redressed
  • come clean
  • confessing Sam
  • fess up
  • own up
  • rat out
  • stand confessed

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.