confession
acknowledgment; avowal; admission: a confession of incompetence.
acknowledgment or disclosure of sin or sinfulness, especially to a priest to obtain absolution.
something that is confessed.
a formal, usually written, acknowledgment of guilt by a person accused of a crime.
Also called confession of faith. a formal profession of belief and acceptance of doctrines, as before being admitted to church membership.
the tomb of a martyr or confessor or the altar or shrine connected with it.
Origin of confession
1Other words from confession
- pre·con·fes·sion, noun
Words Nearby confession
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use confession in a sentence
In his court confession, Yin Hongzhang said he mentioned to Yin Weidong in 2002 that he wanted to buy a car, drawing a $15,200 cash gift from the executive.
As China nears a coronavirus vaccine, bribery cloud hangs over drugmaker Sinovac | Eva Dou | December 4, 2020 | Washington PostA pattern soon emerged of SARS extorting civilians or detaining and torturing them into giving confessions.
The Nigerian Government Has Pledged to #EndSARS and Reform the Police. This Isn't the First Time They've Made That Promise | Andrew R. Chow | October 28, 2020 | TimeDon’t lead with the information as if it’s some kind of confession.
How do you explain your resume gap in a COVID job market? | Kristine Gill | September 25, 2020 | FortuneA product of the tough-on-crime era of the 1980s and 1990s, she was slow to respond to a stunning series of false confessions and wrongful convictions.
As Trump Calls for Law and Order, Can Chicago’s Top Prosecutor Beat the Charge That She’s Soft on Crime? | by Mick Dumke | September 4, 2020 | ProPublicaThe same day, he also posted a more straightforward confession on his real blog.
A college kid’s fake, AI-generated blog fooled tens of thousands. This is how he made it. | Karen Hao | August 14, 2020 | MIT Technology Review
Outside of Iran, Rigi's “confession” seemed like another in the long tradition of statements extracted from prisoners there.
The Dangerous Drug-Funded Secret War Between Iran and Pakistan | Umar Farooq | December 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn the course of his confession, he supplied details that should only have been known to the killer.
How the U.S. Justice System Screws Prisoners with Disabilities | Elizabeth Picciuto | December 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHis belief that officers really did find his fingerprints at the scene seems to have encouraged his false confession.
How the U.S. Justice System Screws Prisoners with Disabilities | Elizabeth Picciuto | December 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd that confession is said by police to have been just the start.
Indiana Serial Killer’s Confession Was Just the Start | Michael Daly | October 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe signed a written confession after an hour and 45 minutes.
It was on an occasion of the death of a man in this city by stabbing, who begged loudly for confession.
They will try to compel you to confession; and, though you are blameless, you will suffer the cruelest ordeal of transgression.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4 | Jane PorterThe narrative had excited him out of his apathy and physical exhaustion, the confession shaken the rigidity from his mind.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonAnd the question would always remain if the highest honor would not have commanded confession.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonWas it the threat of Tony's near arrival that made her confession—and his dismissal—at last inevitable?
The Wave | Algernon Blackwood
British Dictionary definitions for confession
/ (kənˈfɛʃən) /
the act of confessing
something confessed
an acknowledgment or declaration, esp of one's faults, misdeeds, or crimes
Christianity, mainly RC Church the act of a penitent accusing himself or herself of his or her sins
confession of faith a formal public avowal of religious beliefs
a religious denomination or sect united by a common system of beliefs
Derived forms of confession
- confessionary, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for confession
In some churches, notably the Roman Catholic Church, a sacrament in which repentant sinners individually or as a group privately confess their sins in front of a priest and receive absolution from the guilt of their sins.
In the first few centuries of Christianity, repentant sinners were assigned public penances: sinners had to stay outside the entrance of the church and ask the people going inside to pray for them. The period of public penance could be shortened through an indulgence.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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