- (v.i.) To acknowledge; to admit; to concede.
- (v.i.) To make confession; to disclose sins or faults or the state of the conscience.
- (v.t.) To admit as true; to assent to; to acknowledge, as after a previous doubt, denial or concealment.
- (v.t.) 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.
- (v.t.) To disclose or reveal, as an effect discloses its cause; to prove; to attest.
- (v.t.) To acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in.
- (v.t.) To hear or receive such confession; -- said of a priest.
- (v.t.) To make known or acknowledge, as one's sins to a priest, in order to receive absolution; -- sometimes followed by the reflexive pronoun.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). confess. Retrieved September 21, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/confess/definitions/1990206 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "confess" http://smartdefine.org/confess/definitions/1990206 (accessed September 21, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, confess, Smart Define, viewed 21 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/confess/definitions/1990206>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "confess" 27 May 2011. Web. 21 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/confess/definitions/1990206> |