confession
/kənˈfɛʃən/
confession noun: the open admittance of having done something (especially something bad).
Noun
confession (countable and uncountable, plural confessions)
- The open admittance of having done something (especially something bad).
- Without the real murderer's confession, an innocent person could be jailed.
- With a crafty madness keeps aloof, / When we would bring him on to some confession / Of his true state.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- A formal document providing such an admission.
- He forced me to sign a confession!
- Both the basic idea of confession, and the techniques devised by Yezhov for extracting them, however, were to receive significant employment in Asia in the 1950s. The Chinese accused the Americans of waging bacteriological warfare in Korea. The evidence they produced consisted of feathers, insects...1968, Robert Conquest, The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties, Macmillan Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 493
- The disclosure of one's sins to a priest for absolution. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is now also termed the sacrament of reconciliation.
- I went to confession and now I feel much better about what I had done.
- Hauing diſpleaſ'd my Father, to Lawrence Cell, / To make confeſſion, and to be abſolu'd.c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith.
- With the mouth confession is made unto salvation.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 10:10
- A formula in which the articles of faith are comprised; a creed to be assented to or signed, as a preliminary to admission to membership of a church; a confession of faith.
- The act of professing one's love.
confession meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
confession in Hindi
- open admittance
- इक़रार iqrār, संस्वीकृति sansvīkŕti, स्वीकारोक्ति svīkārokti, इक़बाल iqbāl, एतिराफ़ etirāf
- disclosure of one's sins to a priest
- पाप-स्वीकरण pāp-svīkraṇ, इक़रार iqrār, इकरार ikrār
confession in Tamil
- ஒப்புதல் வாக்கு மூலம், குற்ற ஏற்புரை, குற்ற ஒப்புரைவு, குற்றத்தை ஏற்றுக் கொள்ளுதல், ஒப்புக் கொள்ளுதல், பாவ அறிக்கை
confession in Marathi
- कबुली
confession in Urdu
- open admittance
- اِقْرار iqrār
- disclosure of one's sins to a priest
- اِقْرار iqrār, اِعْتِراف i'tirāf
More languagesFewer languages
- confession in Bengali
- স্বীকারোক্তি
- confession in Telugu
- ఒప్పుకోలు
- confession in Malayalam
- കുമ്പസാരം kumpasāraṁ, കുറ്റസമ്മതം kuṟṟasammataṁ
- confession in Kannada
- ತಪ್ಪೊಪಿಗೆ
- confession in Punjabi
- ਕਬੂਲਨਾਮਾ, ਇਕਬਾਲਨਾਮਾ
- confession in Gujarati
- કબૂલાત
- confession in Odia
- ସ୍ୱୀକାରୋକ୍ତି, ସ୍ବୀକାରୋକ୍ତି
- confession in Sinhala
- පාපොච්චාරණය
- confession in Pashto
- اعتراف e'terãf, اقرار eqrãr
- confession in Tagalog
- pagtatapat, kumpisal
- confession in Arabic
- إِقْرَار ʔiqrār, اِعْتِرَاف iʕtirāf, طَائِفَة ṭāʔifa
- confession in Malay
- pengakuan, pengakuan dosa
- confession in Indonesian
- pengakuan
- confession in Thai
- การสารภาพ gaan-sǎa-rá-pâap, สารภาพ sǎa-rá-pâap
- confession in Vietnamese
- xưng tội
Examples of confession in a sentence
- If you’re looking for juicier confessions – that is, admissions of the kinds of sins unearthed on detective shows or reality TV – then you’ll want to look elsewhere.2014 November 12, James Martin, “Confessions of a Catholic priest”, in CNN:
- That all changed last month when 37-year-old Peralta borrowed a phone, called police and made a blunt confession to a crime he says he committed nearly 15 years ago, according to an arrest affidavit.2023 June 2, Cheri Mossburg, Andi Babineau and Christal Hayes, “‘I’m just tired of covering it up’: Guilt drives man to confess to murder...
- Both the basic idea of confession, and the techniques devised by Yezhov for extracting them, however, were to receive significant employment in Asia in the 1950s.1968, Robert Conquest, The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties, Macmillan Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 493:
Forms of confession
| plural | confessions |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | confessione |
Origin of confession
From Middle English confessioun, from Old French confession, from Latin cōnfessiō, cōnfessiōnem (“confession, acknowledgment, creed or avowal of one's faith”). Displaced native Old English andetnes. Doublet of confessio. Morphologically confess + -ion. Sense 6 is a calque of 告白 (kokuhaku).
Words formed from confession
Phrases with confession
Words that rhyme with confession
- freshen
- expression
- impression
- possession
- session
- depression
- recession
- compression
- profession
- obsession
- cession
- oppression
8 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about confession
- What does confession mean?
- Confession means the open admittance of having done something (especially something bad).
- What is confession in Hindi?
- Confession in Hindi is इक़रार (iqrār), संस्वीकृति (sansvīkŕti), स्वीकारोक्ति (svīkārokti). See Confession meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use confession in a sentence?
- If you’re looking for juicier confessions – that is, admissions of the kinds of sins unearthed on detective shows or reality TV – then you’ll want to look elsewhere.
- What part of speech is confession?
- Confession is a noun.
- How do you pronounce confession?
- Confession is pronounced /kənˈfɛʃən/.
- What is the plural of confession?
- The plural of confession is confessions.
Words near confession in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: confession (page history and authors); confession (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); confession (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); confession (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); confession (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); കുമ്പസാരം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); confession (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); confession (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); confession (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); confession (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); confession (Sinhala Wiktionary) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-confession.ogg.
Cite this entry: “confession.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/confession. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.