confess

confess — verb

1. to openly tell someone, often with a feeling of guilt, about an illegal or moral

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveB2
Definition

to openly tell someone, often with a feeling of guilt, about an illegal or morally bad action you committed, especially one you were trying to hide — for instance, admitting a theft when the police question you, or telling a friend about a lie you have been keeping.

Example

Nikhil confessed to stealing the money after the manager found the security footage.

confess to + gerund for admitting an action

Tamar confessed to her roommate that she had eaten the last piece of cake.

confess to + person + that-clause

Common collocations
  • confess to a crime
  • confess to stealing
  • confess everything
  • confess the truth
  • confess to the police
  • confess to a friend
  • reluctantly confess
  • finally confess
Synonyms
  • admit

    Broader and less emotional; can be used for any acknowledgment, not just of wrongdoing ('admit you were wrong')

  • own up to

    Informal phrasal verb, often used in everyday situations when someone stops hiding the truth ('own up to breaking the cup')

  • come clean

    Informal idiom meaning to finally tell the full truth after lying or hiding it ('decided to come clean about the affair')

Antonyms
  • deny

    To state that something is not true, the direct opposite of confessing

  • conceal

    To keep hidden deliberately, without the act of admitting

Grammar Patterns

confess + that-clause

confess to + noun / gerund

confess + noun + to + person

confess (without object)

Usage Note

Frequently used with the preposition 'to' followed by the person receiving the confession ('confessed to her mother') or by the wrongdoing itself as a gerund ('confessed to stealing'). When the wrongdoing is a that-clause, the preposition 'to' is not used ('confessed that he had taken the money'). Common in both legal contexts (confessing to the police) and everyday personal situations (confessing a mistake to a friend or family member).

Common Mistakes

She confessed to told her mother the truth.
She confessed to telling her mother the truth.
After 'confess to', use the gerund (-ing form), not the past tense.
I confessed my fault to the teacher.
I admitted my mistake to the teacher.' / 'I confessed that I was at fault.
'Confess' is used for moral or legal wrongdoing, not for minor non-moral errors; 'admit' is more natural for small mistakes.

2. in Roman Catholicism and certain other Christian churches, to privately tell a p

2.verbtransitive / intransitiveB1
Definition

in Roman Catholicism and certain other Christian churches, to privately tell a priest about your sins during a formal ceremony, trusting that God will pardon you through the priest's blessing — a practice known as the Sacrament of Penance.

Example

Every Saturday afternoon, Noor goes to the church near her house to confess her sins.

confess + noun (sins) for religious context

Folake confessed her mistakes to the priest and asked God to forgive her.

confess + noun + to + priest

Common collocations
  • confess one's sins
  • confess to a priest
  • go to confession
  • hear a confession
  • confess wrongdoings
Synonyms
  • repent

    Different focus: repent means to feel genuine sorrow and decide to change, while confess is the act of telling one's sins aloud

Grammar Patterns

confess + noun (sins, wrongdoings)

confess to + person

confess + that-clause

Usage Note

In Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, this is a formal sacrament. The person confesses (the penitent) goes to a priest and tells their sins aloud. The priest then offers advice and gives a penance (a prayer or good deed). The noun 'confession' can refer both to the act itself ('went to confession') and to the list of sins told ('my confession took five minutes'). In Protestant traditions, believers are more likely to 'confess their sins directly to God' in private prayer rather than to a priest.

Common Mistakes

I went to confession and confessed my crimes.
I went to confession and confessed my sins.
In a religious context, the word 'sins' is used, not 'crimes' (which is legal language).
The priest confessed the man.
The priest heard the man's confession.
The priest receives the confession; the person making the confession is the one who confesses.

Word family

  • confession
    nounB2
  • confessional
    nounC1
  • confessor
    nounC1
  • unconfessed
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Confess, admit, own up, and come clean all involve revealing the truth about something, but they differ in emotional weight and context. Confess is the strongest and most serious — it implies moral or legal wrongdoing that the person felt the need to hide, often carrying a sense of guilt or shame. Admit is the most neutral and flexible; you can admit a mistake, a feeling, or an opinion without any moral judgment. Own up is informal and suggests taking responsibility after hesitation, commonly used in everyday situations like breaking an object. Come clean is an informal idiom meaning to finally tell the whole truth after a period of deception, often in personal relationships. For example: 'The thief confessed to the burglary.' 'She admitted she was tired.' 'He owned up to spilling the drink.' 'After lying for weeks, she finally came clean about her plans.'

confess ↗admit ↗own upcome clean

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • confess everything
  • confess the truth
  • make a confession
  • hear a confession

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

The word 'confess' comes from Latin 'confiteri', which combines 'con-' (together, completely) and 'fateri' (to acknowledge or admit). In Latin, 'confiteri' meant to acknowledge fully or to reveal openly. It passed through Old French 'confesser' before entering English around the 1300s. The religious sense — telling one's sins to a priest — developed in Church Latin and became the dominant meaning in the Catholic tradition, while the general sense of admitting wrongdoing grew alongside it in everyday use.