confess


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con·fess

 (kən-fĕs′)
v. con·fessed, con·fess·ing, con·fess·es
v.tr.
1. To disclose (something damaging or inconvenient to oneself); admit. See Synonyms at acknowledge.
2. To acknowledge belief or faith in; profess: confess one's religion.
3.
a. To make known (one's sins) to God or to a priest.
b. To hear the confession of (a penitent).
v.intr.
1. To admit or acknowledge something damaging or inconvenient to oneself: The suspect confessed to the crime.
2. To disclose one's sins to a priest.

[Middle English confessen, from Old French confesser, from Vulgar Latin *cōnfessāre, from Latin cōnfitērī, cōnfess- : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + fatērī, to admit; see bhā- in Indo-European roots.]

con·fess′a·ble adj.
con·fess′ed·ly (-ĭd-lē) adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

confess

(kənˈfɛs)
vb (when tr, may take a clause as object)
1. (when: intr, often foll by to) to make an acknowledgment or admission (of faults, misdeeds, crimes, etc)
2. (tr) to admit or grant to be true; concede
3. (Ecclesiastical Terms) Christianity chiefly RC Church to declare (one's sins) to God or to a priest as his representative, so as to obtain pardon and absolution
[C14: from Old French confesser, from Late Latin confessāre, from Latin confessus confessed, from confitērī to admit, from fatērī to acknowledge; related to Latin fārī to speak]
conˈfessable adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

con•fess

(kənˈfɛs)

v.i.
1. to acknowledge or avow (a fault, crime, misdeed, or weakness) by way of revelation.
2. to own or admit as true; concede: I must confess that I haven't read it.
3. to declare or acknowledge (one's sins), esp. to God or a priest.
4. (of a priest) to hear the confession of (a person).
5. to acknowledge one's belief or faith in; declare adherence to.
6. to reveal by circumstances.
v.i.
7. to make confession; plead guilty; own: to confess to a crime.
8. to make confession of sins, esp. to a priest.
9. (of a priest) to hear confession.
[1300–50; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French confesser < Medieval Latin confessāre, v. derivative of Latin confessus, past participle of confitērī to admit, confess]
con•fess′a•ble, adj.
syn: See acknowledge.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

confess


Past participle: confessed
Gerund: confessing

Imperative
confess
confess
Present
I confess
you confess
he/she/it confesses
we confess
you confess
they confess
Preterite
I confessed
you confessed
he/she/it confessed
we confessed
you confessed
they confessed
Present Continuous
I am confessing
you are confessing
he/she/it is confessing
we are confessing
you are confessing
they are confessing
Present Perfect
I have confessed
you have confessed
he/she/it has confessed
we have confessed
you have confessed
they have confessed
Past Continuous
I was confessing
you were confessing
he/she/it was confessing
we were confessing
you were confessing
they were confessing
Past Perfect
I had confessed
you had confessed
he/she/it had confessed
we had confessed
you had confessed
they had confessed
Future
I will confess
you will confess
he/she/it will confess
we will confess
you will confess
they will confess
Future Perfect
I will have confessed
you will have confessed
he/she/it will have confessed
we will have confessed
you will have confessed
they will have confessed
Future Continuous
I will be confessing
you will be confessing
he/she/it will be confessing
we will be confessing
you will be confessing
they will be confessing
Present Perfect Continuous
I have been confessing
you have been confessing
he/she/it has been confessing
we have been confessing
you have been confessing
they have been confessing
Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been confessing
you will have been confessing
he/she/it will have been confessing
we will have been confessing
you will have been confessing
they will have been confessing
Past Perfect Continuous
I had been confessing
you had been confessing
he/she/it had been confessing
we had been confessing
you had been confessing
they had been confessing
Conditional
I would confess
you would confess
he/she/it would confess
we would confess
you would confess
they would confess
Past Conditional
I would have confessed
you would have confessed
he/she/it would have confessed
we would have confessed
you would have confessed
they would have confessed
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Verb1.confess - confess to a punishable or reprehensible deed, usually under pressure
acknowledge, admit - declare to be true or admit the existence or reality or truth of; "He admitted his errors"; "She acknowledged that she might have forgotten"
2.confess - admit (to a wrongdoing); "She confessed that she had taken the money"
acknowledge, admit - declare to be true or admit the existence or reality or truth of; "He admitted his errors"; "She acknowledged that she might have forgotten"
fess up, make a clean breast of, own up - admit or acknowledge a wrongdoing or error; "the writer of the anonymous letter owned up after they identified his handwriting"
3.confess - confess to God in the presence of a priest, as in the Catholic faith
acknowledge, admit - declare to be true or admit the existence or reality or truth of; "He admitted his errors"; "She acknowledged that she might have forgotten"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

confess

verb
1. admit, acknowledge, disclose, confide, own up, come clean (informal), divulge, blurt out, come out of the closet, make a clean breast of, get (something) off your chest (informal), spill your guts (slang), 'fess up (U.S.), sing (slang, chiefly U.S.), cough (slang) He has confessed to seventeen murders. She confesses that she only wrote those books for the money.
admit cover up, deny, hide, conceal, suppress, withhold, keep secret, repudiate, hush up, keep mum, keep under wraps, button your lips
2. declare, own up, allow, prove, reveal, grant, confirm, concede, assert, manifest, affirm, profess, attest, evince, aver I must confess I'm not a great sports enthusiast.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

confess

verb
To recognize, often reluctantly, the reality or truth of:
Slang: fess up.
Chiefly Regional: allow.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
اعترفيَعْتَرِفيَعْتَرِفُ
přiznatuznat
tilståindrømme
tunnustaa
להתוודות
priznati
játa, viîurkenna
自白する認める告白する告解する
고백하다
išpažintisklausyklanuodėmklausys
atzītiesizsūdzēt grēkus
mărturisispovedi
priznati
erkänna
สารภาพ
thú nhận

confess

[kənˈfes]
A. VT
1. [+ crime, sin] → confesar; [+ guilt, error] → confesar, reconocer
to confess thatconfesar que ...
to confess one's guiltconfesar or reconocer ser culpable
to confess o.s. guilty of [+ sin, crime] → confesarse culpable de
I confess myself totally ignorantme confieso totalmente ignorante en eso
2. (Rel) to confess sbconfesar a algn
B. VI
1. (= admit) → confesar
he confessed to the murderse confesó culpable del asesinato, confesó haber cometido el asesinato
to confess to doing sthconfesarse culpable de haber hecho algo
I must confess, I like your cardebo reconocer que me gusta tu coche
to confess to a liking for sthreconocerse aficionado a algo
2. (Rel) → confesarse
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

confess

[kənˈfɛs]
vt [+ guilt, ignorance] → confesser, avouer
I must confess (that) ..., I confess (that) ... → je dois avouer que ...
I must confess I didn't enjoy it at all → Je dois avouer que ça ne m'a pas plu du tout.
vi
(= admit to sth) → avouer
He finally confessed → Il a fini par avouer.
to confess to sth [+ crime] → avouer avoir commis qch
He confessed to the murder → Il a avoué avoir commis le meurtre.; [+ weakness] → avouer qch
(RELIGION)se confesser
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

confess

vt
(= acknowledge)gestehen, zugeben; ignorance, mistake alsobekennen, beichten (hum inf)
(Eccl) sinsbekennen; (to priest) → beichten; (priest) penitentdie Beichte abnehmen (+dat)
vi
(= admit)gestehen (→ to +acc); to confess to somethingetw gestehen, sich zu etw bekennen; if you did it, you might as well confesswenn du es warst, warum gestehst du es (dann) nicht?
(Eccl) → beichten; to confess to somebody/to somethingjdm/etw (acc)beichten
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

confess

[kənˈfɛs]
1. vtconfessare, ammettere
to confess o.s. guilty of (sin, crime) → confessare di essere colpevole di, dichiararsi colpevole di
2. vi (make one's confession) → confessarsi; (admit) to confess (to sth/to doing sth)confessare (qc/di aver fatto qc)
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

confess

(kənˈfes) verb
to make known that one is guilty, wrong etc; to admit. He confessed (to the crime); He confessed that he had broken the vase; It was stupid of me, I confess.
conˈfession (-ʃən) noun
1. acknowledgment of a crime or fault. The youth made a confession to the police officer.
2. (an) act of confessing one's sins to a priest. She went to confession every Friday.
conˈfessional (-ʃə-) noun
the seat etc where a priest sits when hearing confessions.
conˈfessor noun
a priest who hears confessions.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

confess

يَعْتَرِفُ přiznat (se) tilstå gestehen ομολογώ confesar tunnustaa confesser priznati confessare 自白する 고백하다 bekennen tilstå przyznawać się confessar признавать erkänna สารภาพ itiraf etmek thú nhận 坦白
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

confess

vt. admitir, reconocer; confesar.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
References in classic literature ?
"For the last time, do you confess the facts in the case?" demanded Charmolue, with his imperturbable benignity.
Go to your room and stay there until you are ready to confess."
"He will not confess, else; and then were his soul lost.
I confess I am no judge of wines, except when they are bad.
Yet it was his duty to confess, to suffer public shame, and to make public atonement.
Again I say it is a great pity that criticism is not honest about the masterpieces of literature, and does not confess that they are not every moment masterly, that they are often dull and tough and dry, as is certainly the case with Dante's.
He is, moreover, aware that she DOES disapprove the connection, he dares not therefore at present confess to her his engagement with Marianne, and he feels himself obliged, from his dependent situation, to give into her schemes, and absent himself from Devonshire for a while.
At last, I fixed upon a resolution, for which it is probable I may incur some censure, and not unjustly; for I confess I owe the preserving of mine eyes, and consequently my liberty, to my own great rashness and want of experience; because, if I had then known the nature of princes and ministers, which I have since observed in many other courts, and their methods of treating criminals less obnoxious than myself, I should, with great alacrity and readiness, have submitted to so easy a punishment.
So with a lofty bearing and determination he fixed himself firmly in his stirrups, got his lance ready, brought his buckler before his breast, and planting himself in the middle of the road, stood waiting the approach of these knights-errant, for such he now considered and held them to be; and when they had come near enough to see and hear, he exclaimed with a haughty gesture, "All the world stand, unless all the world confess that in all the world there is no maiden fairer than the Empress of La Mancha, the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso."
We often ate and drank with those men; and though I must confess the conversion, as they call it, of the Chinese to Christianity is so far from the true conversion required to bring heathen people to the faith of Christ, that it seems to amount to little more than letting them know the name of Christ, and say some prayers to the Virgin Mary and her Son, in a tongue which they understood not, and to cross themselves, and the like; yet it must be confessed that the religionists, whom we call missionaries, have a firm belief that these people will be saved, and that they are the instruments of it; and on this account they undergo not only the fatigue of the voyage, and the hazards of living in such places, but oftentimes death itself, and the most violent tortures, for the sake of this work.
Can you pity my weakness if I confess to having felt a pang at my heart when I read that part of your letter which calls Frank a coward and a villain?
The first hope of anything better was derived from Lady Susan's asking her whether she thought Frederica looked quite as well as she had done at Churchhill, as she must confess herself to have sometimes an anxious doubt of London's perfectly agreeing with her.