v. i. 1. To make confession; to disclose sins or faults, or the state of the conscience. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every tongue shall confess to God. Rom. xiv. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To acknowledge; to admit; to concede. [ 1913 Webster ]

But since
(And I confess with right) you think me bound. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Confessed p. pr. & vb. n. Confessing. ] [ F. confesser, fr. L. confessus, p. p. of confiteri to confess; con- + fateri to confess; akin to fari to speak. See 2d Ban, Fame. ] 1. To make acknowledgment or avowal in a matter pertaining to one's self; to acknowledge, own, or admit, as a crime, a fault, a debt. [ 1913 Webster ]

And there confess
Humbly our faults, and pardon beg. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

I must confess I was most pleased with a beautiful prospect that none of them have mentioned. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess, also, before my Father which is in heaven. Matt. x. 32. [ 1913 Webster ]

For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. Acts xxiii. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To admit as true; to assent to; to acknowledge, as after a previous doubt, denial, or concealment. [ 1913 Webster ]

I never gave it him. Send for him hither,
And let him confess a truth. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

As I confess it needs must be. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

As an actor confessed without rival to shine. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Eccl.) (a) To make known or acknowledge, as one's sins to a priest, in order to receive absolution; -- sometimes followed by the reflexive pronoun. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our beautiful votary took an opportunity of confessing herself to this celebrated father. Addison.

(b) To hear or receive such confession; -- said of a priest. [ 1913 Webster ]

He . . . heard mass, and the prince, his son, with him, and the most part of his company were confessed. Ld. Berners. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To disclose or reveal, as an effect discloses its cause; to prove; to attest. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tall thriving trees confessed the fruitful mold. Pope.

Syn. -- Admit; grant; concede; avow; own; assent; recognize; prove; exhibit; attest. -- To Confess, Acknowledge, Avow. Acknowledge is opposed to conceal. We acknowledge what we feel must or ought to be made known. (See Acknowledge.) Avow is opposed to withhold. We avow when we make an open and public declaration, as against obloquy or opposition; as, to avow one's principles; to avow one's participation in some act. Confess is opposed to deny. We confess (in the ordinary sense of the word) what we feel to have been wrong; as, to confess one's errors or faults. We sometimes use confess and acknowledge when there is no admission of our being in the wrong; as, this, I confess, is my opinion; I acknowledge I have always thought so; but in these cases we mean simply to imply that others may perhaps think us in the wrong, and hence we use the words by way of deference to their opinions. It was in this way that the early Christians were led to use the Latin confiteor and confessio fidei to denote the public declaration of their faith in Christianity; and hence the corresponding use in English of the verb confess and the noun confession. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. confessant. ] One who confesses to a priest. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. confessarius. ] One who makes a confession. [ Obs. ] Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By confession; without denial. [ Written also confessly. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who makes a confession. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. confession, L. confessio. ] 1. Acknowledgment; avowal, especially in a matter pertaining to one's self; the admission of a debt, obligation, or crime. [ 1913 Webster ]

With a crafty madness keeps aloof,
When we would bring him on to some confession
Of his true state. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith. [ 1913 Webster ]

With the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Rom. x. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Eccl.) The act of disclosing sins or faults to a priest in order to obtain sacramental absolution. [ 1913 Webster ]

Auricular confession . . . or the private and special confession of sins to a priest for the purpose of obtaining his absolution. Hallam. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A formulary in which the articles of faith are comprised; a creed to be assented to or signed, as a preliminary to admission to membership of a church; a confession of faith. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Law) An admission by a party to whom an act is imputed, in relation to such act. A judicial confession settles the issue to which it applies; an extrajudical confession may be explained or rebutted. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Confession and avoidance (Law), a mode of pleading in which the party confesses the facts as stated by his adversary, but alleges some new matter by way of avoiding the legal effect claimed for them. Mozley & W. [ 1913 Webster ]

Confession of faith, a formulary containing the articles of faith; a creed. --
General confession, the confession of sins made by a number of persons in common, as in public prayer. --
Westminster Confession. See Westminster Assembly, under Assembly. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to a confession of faith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Confessional equality, equality before the law of persons confessing different creeds. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. confessional. ] The recess, seat, or inclosed place, where a priest sits to hear confessions; often a small structure furnished with a seat for the priest and with a window or aperture so that the penitent who is outside may whisper into the priest's ear without being seen by him or heard by others. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Eccl.) An exaggerated estimate of the importance of giving full assent to any particular formula of the Christian faith. Shaff. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A priest hearing, or sitting to hear, confession. [ R. ] Boucher [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to auricular confession; as, a confessionary litany. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. confessionarium. ] A confessional. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. confessioniste. ] One professing a certain faith. Bp. Montagu. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. confessor, F. confesseur, fr. L. & LL. confessor. ] 1. One who confesses; one who acknowledges a fault, or the truth of a charge, at the risk of suffering; specifically, one who confesses himself a follower of Christ and endures persecution for his faith. [ 1913 Webster ]

He who dies for religion is a martyr; he who suffers for it is a confessor. Latham. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our religion which hath been sealed with the blood of so many martyrs and confessors. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A priest who hears the confessions of others and is authorized to grant them absolution. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or state of suffering persecution for religious faith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our duty to contend even to confessorship. J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ]

See accommodating.
See aching.
See ailing.
See aiming.
See alarming.
See altering.
See appreciating.
See approving.
See aspiring.
See assisting.
See attempting.
See attending.
See bearing.
See befitting.
See beginning.
See believing.
See bleaching.
See bleeding.
See blemishing.
See blenching.
See blossoming.
See blushing.
See boding.
See branching.
See breathing.
See burning.
See calculating.
See ceasing.
See changing.
See charming.
See communicating.
See complaining.
See complying.
See conceiving.
See conducing.
See confessing.
See conniving.
See consenting.
See considering.
See conspiring.
See consulting.
See consuming.
See contending.
See contriving.
See conversing.
See convincing.
See dawning.
See decaying.
See delaying.
See depending.
See derogating.
See deserving.
See desiring.
See despairing.
See detesting.
See deviating.
See differencing.
See discerning.
See discording.
See discriminating.
See disobliging.
See dispensing.
See dissembling.
See dissolving.
See distinguishing.
See distracting.
See disturbing.
See doubting.
See dreading.
See drooping.
See ebbing.
See echoing.
See edifying.
See ending.
See enduring.
See engaging.
See enjoying.
See entering.
See enterprising.
See entertaining.
See envying.
See existing.
See fadging.
See fading.
See fainting.
See faltering.
See fearing.
See feigning.
See fighting.
See fitting.
See flagging.
See flattering.
See flinching.
See folding.
See forbearing.
See foreboding.
See foreseeing.
See forgiving.
See giving.
See grudging.
See harming.
See heeding.
See hesitating.
See hoping.
See hurting.
See importing.
See imposing.
See improving.
See interesting.
See intermitting.
See intoxicating.
See inviting.
See jarring.
See laboring.
See lingering.
See listening.
See loving.
See meddling.
See meriting.
See mistrusting.
See moving.
See murmuring.
See obliging.
See observing.
See offending.
See opening.
See pardoning.
See paying.
See perceiving.
See performing.
See perishing.
See pitying.
See pleasing.
See possessing.
See preaching.
See prepossessing.
See presuming.
See pretending.
See prevailing.
See prevaricating.
See profiting.
See promising.
See proving.
See quailing.
See questioning.
See reasoning.
See recalling.
See reclining.
See recurring.
See referring.
See reflecting.
See refunding.
See refusing.
See rejoicing.
See relaxing.
See relishing.
See remembering.
See repenting.
See repining.
See reproving.
See repulsing.
See resisting.
See resolving.
See resting.
See returning.
See rewarding.
See sanctifying.
See satisfying.
See searching.
See seeing.
See setting.
See shrinking.
See sinking.
See sleeping.
See slipping.
See slumbering.
See speaking.
See stinting.
See stirring.
See stooping.
See submitting.
See sufficing.
See suiting.
See surging.
See suspecting.
See sweating.
See swerving.
See sympathizing.
See tasting.
See thriving.
See tiring.
See toiling.
See trading.
See trembling.
See trespassing.
See trifling.
See vacillating.
See varying.
See walking.
See wandering.
See waning.
See wasting.
See wavering.
See weeping.
See winking.
See winning.
See withdrawing.
See withering.
See wondering.
See working.
See writing.
See yielding.
----- and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

The above classes of words are unlimited in extent, and such compounds may be formed by any writer or speaker at will from almost all the adjectives or participles in the language, excepting those which have a recognized and usual negative correspondent with the prefix -in. No attempt will be made, therefore, to define them all in this Dictionary; many will be omitted from its Vocabulary which are negations of the simple word, and are readily explained by prefixing a not to the latter. Derivatives of these words in -ly and -ness will also, for the most part, be omitted for the same or similar reasons. [ 1913 Webster ]

There will be inserted as separate articles with definitions, the following: -- [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Those which have acquired an opposed or contrary, instead of a merely negative, meaning; as, unfriendly, ungraceful, unpalatable, unquiet, and the like; or else an intensive sense more than a prefixed not would express; as, unending, unparalleled, undisciplined, undoubted, unsafe, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Those which have the value of independent words, inasmuch as the simple words are either not used at all, or are rarely, or at least much less frequently, used; as, unavoidable, unconscionable, undeniable, unspeakable, unprecedented, unruly, and the like; or inasmuch as they are used in a different sense from the usual meaning of the primitive, or especially in one of the significations of the latter; as, unaccountable, unalloyed, unbelieving, unpretending, unreserved, and the like; or inasmuch as they are so frequently and familiarly used that they are hardly felt to be of negative origin; as, uncertain, uneven, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Those which are anomalous, provincial, or, for some other reason, not desirable to be used, and are so indicated; as, unpure for impure, unsatisfaction for dissatisfaction, unexpressible for inexpressible, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

II. Un- is prefixed to nouns to express the absence of, or the contrary of, that which the noun signifies; as, unbelief, unfaith, unhealth, unrest, untruth, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Compounds of this last class are given in full in their proper order in the Vocabulary. [ 1913 Webster ]