Definition of: confess

(kən·fes′) v.t.
1. To acknowledge or admit, as a fault, guilt, or debt.
2. To acknowledge belief or faith in.
3. Eccl. a To admit or make known (one's sins), especially to a priest, to obtain absolution. b To hear the confession of: said of a priest.
4. To concede or admit to be true.
5. Poetic To demonstrate or make manifest.
—v.i.
6. To make acknowledgment of, as a fault, crime, or error.
7. To make confession to a priest. [<F confesser <L confessus, pp. of confiteri <com- thoroughly + fateri own, declare] Synonyms: accept, acknowledge, admit, allow, avow, certify, concede, disclose, endorse, grant, own, recognize. We accept another's statement; admit any point made against us; acknowledge what we have said or done, good or bad; avow our individual beliefs or feelings; certify to facts within our knowledge; confess our own faults; endorse a friend's note or statement; grant a request; own our faults or obligations; recognize lawful authority; concede a claim, demand, etc. The chief present use of confess is in the sense of making known to others one's own error or wrong–doing; as, to confess a crime. Acknowledge may be used as a milder word in this sense, but is more freely used of matters not involving error or fault: I acknowledge my signature, the receipt of a letter, a check, etc. Own commonly indicates a somewhat reluctant acknowledgment. Admit and concede have a similar suggestion of reluctance or of possible objection. See ACKNOWLEDGE, AVOW. Compare APOLOGY. Antonyms: cloak, conceal, cover, deny, disavow, disguise, disown, dissemble, dissimulate, hide, mask, repudiate, screen, secrete, veil.