confessing

/kənˈfɛsɪŋ/

confessing is the present participle and gerund 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.

confessing (plural confessings)

The act of making a confession.
- He further urged the advantage of keeping alive in the hearts of the people the necessity for appeasing the divine wrath by prayers in the churches, processions, frequent confessings […]1871, William Gilbert, The Struggle in Ferrara: A Story of the Reformation in Italy, page 100

plural	confessings

What does confessing mean?: Confessing means the act of making a confession.
What is confessing the present participle and gerund of?: Confessing is the present participle and gerund of confess.
What part of speech is confessing?: Confessing is a noun.
How do you pronounce confessing?: Confessing is pronounced /kənˈfɛsɪŋ/.
What is the plural of confessing?: The plural of confessing is confessings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: confessing (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

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