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Confess   /kənfˈɛs/   Listen
verb
Confess  v. t.  (past & past part. confessed; pres. part. confessing)  
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. "And there confess Humbly our faults, and pardon beg." "I must confess I was most pleased with a beautiful prospect that none of them have mentioned."
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." "For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both."
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." "As I confess it needs must be." "As an actor confessed without rival to shine."
4.
(Eccl.)
(a)
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."
(b)
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."
5.
To disclose or reveal, as an effect discloses its cause; to prove; to attest. "Tall thriving trees confessed the fruitful mold."
Synonyms: Admit; grant; concede; avow; own; assent; recognize; prove; exhibit; attest. To Confess, Acknowledge, Avow. Acknowledge is opposed to conceal. We acknowledge what we feel must or ought to be made known. (See Acknowledge.) Avow is opposed to withhold. We avow when we make an open and public declaration, as against obloquy or opposition; as, to avow one's principles; to avow one's participation in some act. Confess is opposed to deny. We confess (in the ordinary sense of the word) what we feel to have been wrong; as, to confess one's errors or faults. We sometimes use confess and acknowledge when there is no admission of our being in the wrong; as, this, I confess, is my opinion; I acknowledge I have always thought so; but in these cases we mean simply to imply that others may perhaps think us in the wrong, and hence we use the words by way of deference to their opinions. It was in this way that the early Christians were led to use the Latin confiteor and confessio fidei to denote the public declaration of their faith in Christianity; and hence the corresponding use in English of the verb confess and the noun confession.


Confess  v. i.  
1.
To make confession; to disclose sins or faults, or the state of the conscience. "Every tongue shall confess to God."
2.
To acknowledge; to admit; to concede. "But since (And I confess with right) you think me bound."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Confess" Quotes from Famous Books



... appeared in the Nationalist papers. This report contained the remarkable suggestion that Lord Ashtown had done it himself! When under cross-examination at the trial, the Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary who made the report was obliged to confess that he did not believe that he had, but had only inserted the suggestion in obedience to instruction received from the Government. Lord Ashtown proved his case and was awarded compensation. But the matter did not end ...
— Is Ulster Right? • Anonymous
... The information must, in the first place, be given by a white man upon oath; and of whom must the "particular inquiries" be made? Not of the slave, nor of his companions,—for their evidence goes for nothing; and would a master, capable of starving an aged slave, be likely to confess the whole truth about it? The judges of the inferior courts, if from defect of evidence, or any other cause, they are unable to prove that relief was absolutely needed, must pay all the expenses from their own private purses. Are there many, think you, so desperately ...
— An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans • Lydia Maria Child
... big trooper who came up and took me in charge persuaded me to do as I was bid. "'Tis a dark night, laddie, and we ride fast," he said, "and my lord would be angered didst thou lose thy way, or fall behind," and although my pride was nettled at first, I was soon fain to confess that he was right, for the horses swung out into the wind and rain, and took to the hills at a steady trot, keeping together in the darkness in a way that astonished me. Red Rowan had a plaid on his shoulders which he twisted round me, and which sheltered me a little from the driving ...
— Tales From Scottish Ballads • Elizabeth W. Grierson
... them out of the billiard-room;" and after all, and worst of all, at night a soulless RECHAUFFE of third-rate London frivolity: this is the life-in-death in which thousands spend the golden weeks of summer, and in which you confess with a sigh that you are ...
— Glaucus; or The Wonders of the Shore • Charles Kingsley
... Fort Conception. The moment was critical; the Vega was ripe for a revolt; he had the fomenter of the conspiracy in his power, and an example was called for, that should strike terror into the factious. He ordered Moxica to be hanged on the top of the fortress. The latter entreated to be allowed to confess himself previous to execution. A priest was summoned. The miserable Moxica, who had been so arrogant in rebellion, lost all courage at the near approach of death. He delayed to confess, beginning and pausing, and ...
— The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Vol. II) • Washington Irving


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