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😔 To admit guilt 🙏 To admit sins
to confess

to confess

138 4.4
To tell a priest about the wrong things you did to ask for forgiveness
  • verb
  • /kənˈfɛs/
translation icon : confesarse (con el sacerdote)
  • - You need to confess your sins to God, so he can give you the power to help us defeat Lucifer.
  • confess their sins
  • penitents confess

So there's an idea that no matter what your sins, if you confess, then you can be forgiven.

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Examples

  • Now first, I must confess that I misled you last night.

    The Decemberists: A Practical Handbook (2006)

  • Well, yes, I feel the need to confess, Father.

    Captain Faggotron Saves the Universe (2023)

  • And it says that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, your soul will be saved.

    George Janko

  • You got a lot of sins to confess.

    Above the Law (1988)

  • Let me confess to Father Chavez.

    Che: Part One (2008)

  • Yet something kept him from confessing to God and getting things right with Christ.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Now, let us pray and humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • I firmly resolve with the help of thy grace... ...to confess my sins... ...and to amend my life.

    Anaconda (1997)

  • If you will confess your faults, your sins, your struggles, you'll be healed.

  • During the confession, he realized it was important to confess his sins to the priest.

Synonyms

to come clean
vsto confess
  • Informal
92 4.1

To say the truth about something you kept secret

is a formal religious admission of sins to God before a priest
to own up
vsto confess
  • Informal
38 4.4

Admit that you did something wrong or made a mistake

is a formal religious admission of sins to God before a priest
to own up to
vsto confess
  • Informal
33 4.2

To say you did something wrong or embarrassing

is a formal religious admission of sins to God before a priest
to fess
vsto confess
  • Informal
30 8.3

To admit that you did something, often reluctantly

is a formal religious admission of sins to God before a priest
to fess up
vsto confess
  • Informal
28 8.0

To say you did something wrong, often after being asked

is a formal religious admission of sins to God before a priest

Antonyms

to conceal
282 3.7

To hide something so others cannot see or find it

to withhold
210 5.1

Refuse to give something someone wants or needs

Surface Forms

confess infinitive
confessed past
confessed past participle
confessing present participle
confesses third person singular

Morphology

confess = con + fess

Historically analyzable as con- + fess, but 'fess' is not a standalone or productive English morpheme, so an average B1 learner cannot derive the religious sense from the parts.

Etymology

The word confess comes from Latin con- ('together' or 'completely') and fateri ('to speak'), so in religion it kept the idea of 'speaking openly' about your sins to a priest to ask for forgiveness.