confessed

/kənˈfɛst/

confessed is the simple past and past participle of confess.

Meaning of confess

confess (third-person singular simple present confesses, present participle confessing, simple past and past participle confessed)

(intransitive, transitive) To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed.
- I confess to spray-painting all over that mural!
(transitive) 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.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 10:32
To unburden (oneself) of sins to God or a priest, in order to receive absolution.
- If we confesse our sinnes, hee is faithfull, & iust to forgiue vs our sinnes, and to cleanse vs from all vnrighteousnesse.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 John 1:9
(transitive) To hear or receive such a confession of sins from.
- He […] heard mass, and the prince, his son, with him, and the most part of his company were confessed.1523–1525, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (translator), Froissart's Chronicles
(transitive) To disclose or reveal.
- Tall thriving trees confess;d the fruitful mould.1725, Homer, “Book VII”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume II, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC
(intransitive) To profess one's love.

confessed (not comparable)

Which one admits or avows.
- I saw you thought me foolish, and I knew that mamma and papa's plans could not be altered to please my fancy, and that my confessed distaste to them would give pain to both: therefore, I concealed my dislike, […]1858, Grace Aguilar, The Mother's Recompense: a Sequel to Home Influence, page 1

What does confessed mean?: Confessed means which one admits or avows.
What is confessed the simple past and past participle of?: Confessed is the simple past and past participle of confess.
What part of speech is confessed?: Confessed is an adjective.
How do you pronounce confessed?: Confessed is pronounced /kənˈfɛst/.

Adapted from Wiktionary: confessed (page history and authors); confess (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-confessed.ogg.

Cite this entry: “confessed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/confessed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.