confess
Etymology
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004
Etymology
From Middle English confessen, from Anglo-Norman confesser, from Old French confesser, from Latin confessus (Old French confés), past participle of cōnfiteor ("I confess, I admit") from con- + fateor ("I admit").
Pronunciation- IPA: /kənˈfɛs/
confess (confesses, present participle confessing; simple past and past participle confessed)
(intransitive, transitive) To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed. - I confess to spray-painting all over that mural!
- I confess that I am a sinner.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene ii]:
- I never gave it him. Send for him hither, / And let him confess a truth.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
- And there confess / Humbly our faults, and pardon beg.
- 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC ↗:
- I must confess I was most pleased with a beautiful prospect that none of them have mentioned.
- (transitive) To acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in.
- (religion) To unburden (oneself) of sins to God or a priest, in order to receive absolution.
- 1710 September 18 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, September 7, 1710”, in The Spectator, number 1647; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC ↗:
- Our beautiful votary took an opportunity of confessing herself to this celebrated father.
- The spelling has been modernized.
- (religion) To hear or receive such a confession of sins from.
- 1523–1525, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (translator), Froissart's Chronicles
- He […] heard mass, and the prince, his son, with him, and the most part of his company were confessed.
- 1523–1525, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (translator), Froissart's Chronicles
(transitive) To disclose or reveal. - 1725, Homer, “Book VII”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume II, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC ↗:
- Tall thriving trees confess;d the fruitful mould.
- French: avouer, confesser
- German: gestehen, bekennen, verraten
- Italian: confessare
- Portuguese: confessar
- Russian: созна́ться
- Spanish: confesar
- German: beichten
- Russian: испове́доваться
- French: confesser
- Portuguese: confessar
- Russian: созна́ться
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004
