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Glite Dictionary
to shrive

to shrive

1 9.9
To hear a person's confession and forgive their sins
  • verb
  • /ʃrɪv/
  • Archaic
translation icon : absolver
  • The priest will shrive the congregation after the service, offering forgiveness for their sins.

So today I shrive yesterday I Shrove, I have shriven.

Examples

  • I took it off a thieving card sharper... but first I shrived him... and sent him to the pearly gates... as nice and pretty as any from his own faith could have done.

    Duel in the Sun (1946)

  • Having ponderously shriven Mexico City of its individual identity, before moving on to its final pious stop at an Augustinian monastery, the second dialogue takes a walk full of textual trepidation through the Indian zone.

    Academic text (2004)

  • And we shrive and shrive.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • And we shrive and shrive.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • So today I shrive yesterday I Shrove, I have shriven.

    MIT OpenCourseWare

  • Out here a priest is rare, yet there's always danger and one would not like to die un-shriven.

    Underwater! (1955)

  • Bid her to come to confession this afternoon... ...and there she shall, at Friar Laurence's cell, be shrived... ...and married.

    Romeo + Juliet (1996)

  • Before the battle, the soldiers asked the chaplain to shrive them to ensure their souls were at peace.

  • In the quiet chapel, she knelt down to be shriven by the priest before her important decision.

Synonyms

to absolve
vsto shrive
  • Formal
50 7.2

Make someone officially free from blame, guilt, or responsibility

is a religious ritual where a priest hears confession and grants forgiveness

Surface Forms

shrive infinitive
shriving present participle
shrives third person singular
shrove past
shriven past participle

Etymology

Shrive comes from the old word shrift, which means 'confession'. A helpful way to remember it is to imagine a priest hearing your 'confession' and 'forgiving' you, because to shrive someone is to grant them that forgiveness.