confess
Americanverb (used with object)
-
confesses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
confessed,
past participle, past
-
confessing
present participle
-
to acknowledge or avow (a fault, crime, misdeed, weakness, etc.) by way of revelation.
- Antonyms:
- conceal
-
to own or admit as true.
I must confess that I haven't read the book.
- Antonyms:
- deny
-
to declare or acknowledge (one's sins), especially to God or a priest in order to obtain absolution.
-
(of a priest) to hear the confession of (a person).
-
to acknowledge one's belief or faith in; declare adherence to.
-
to reveal by circumstances.
verb (used without object)
-
confesses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
confessed,
past participle, past
-
confessing
present participle
-
to make confession plead guilty; own.
to confess to a crime.
-
to make confession of sins, especially to a priest.
-
(of a priest) to hear confession.
verb
-
to make an acknowledgment or admission (of faults, misdeeds, crimes, etc)
-
(tr) to admit or grant to be true; concede
-
Christianity RC Church to declare (one's sins) to God or to a priest as his representative, so as to obtain pardon and absolution
Synonym Usage
See acknowledge.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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preconfessverb (used with object)
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confessableadjective
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half-confessedadjective
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unconfessedadjective
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unconfessingadjective
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confessinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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confesssimple
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confessessimple
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have confessedperfect
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has confessedperfect
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am confessingprogressive
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are confessingprogressive
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is confessingprogressive
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have been confessingperfect progressive
-
has been confessingperfect progressive
Past
-
confessedsimple
-
had confessedperfect
-
was confessingprogressive
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were confessingprogressive
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had been confessingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of confess
1300–50; Middle English confessen < Anglo-French, Old French confesser < Medieval Latin confessāre, verbal derivative of Latin confessus, past participle of confitērī to admit, confess, equivalent to con- con- + -fitērī, combining form of fatērī to admit
Explanation
When you confess, you admit to doing something wrong. You might feel guilty about eating the entire platter of chocolate chip cookies and confess to your mom before she notices. If she presses charges, you would confess to the cookie crime. Confess can be used to describe admitting to committing a crime. If you watch crime shows on TV, you've likely seen detectives trying to get a suspect to confess. Confess can also be used in a religious context. Catholics confess their sins to a priest on a regular basis. Don't confuse the word confess with apology. An apology involves expressing regret about something. When you confess, you're merely owning up to doing it — you might not be sorry.
Vocabulary lists containing confess
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act IV
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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
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"America"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Given that clemency boards often look more favorably on applicants who acknowledge their wrongdoing and express remorse, I asked if he’d been tempted to confess.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
One of the purported motivations for “Juiced” was getting Simpson to confess to the murders on camera, though the proviso going in was that no one could bring them up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
But she became so unwell that she had to confess.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
I must confess that I long ago lost interest in what he was selling.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
But I have to also confess that things with Jupe have gotten a bit out of hand, albeit in a different way.
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
“The strange thing is I don’t identify with Scully in the same way I do with other characters that I played for much less time,” Anderson confesses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
"I'm a physics teacher and I've got a terrible sense of humour," he confesses, so he particularly likes it if the students pick up on his fondness for corny puns.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
He confesses to catching one game—a victory for Spain—in a ramshackle café in a Galician village.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026
Muir confesses that this feature of the market is overlooked by many market players, partly because it’s esoteric and seemingly innocuous.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
This is the elusive “ear” of a skilled writer—the tacit sense of style which every honest stylebook, echoing Wilde, confesses cannot be explicitly taught.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
Later, while a student at Harvard, he confessed, “I hate Cambridge.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
"I don't take the subway anymore to the big games," he confessed to reporters, but recalled riding the train regularly while growing up -- noting he always paid his fare.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2026
“Not that you shouldn’t get a picture, but when I’m reduced to just the transactional, I find that much harder to bear,” she confessed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The A-lister, who shares his son with Gelila Bekele, whom he was in a relationship with from 2009 to 2020, further confessed that he doesn’t ever plan on getting married.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
No wonder he would rather have confessed to a crime he didn’t commit!
From "Hopping Mad (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #4)" by Franklin W. Dixon
FBI agent Patrick Yaroch was fired and charged with interstate transfer of stolen goods after confessing to taking a suspect’s cryptocurrency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
“Everyone was applauding and smiling at me,” he says, confessing to having been extremely nervous.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
By genuinely confessing on the dance floor, Madonna has made a far more moving and crucial “biopic” than any shiny studio film could afford her.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Meanwhile, Sumsub, which sells services to counter fraud, polled 2,000 UK dating app users and found another culprit, with 54% of the poll respondents confessing to using AI to spice up their own online profile.
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
She stresses the verb confessing as if their father were actually being pious in looking ahead for his daughters.
From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
