confession
Pluralconfessions
- 1An open admission that one has done something, especially something wrong.
The detective secured a confession only after presenting the new evidence.
Under pressure, she offered a quiet confession of her part in the scheme.
Similaradmission, acknowledgment, disclosure, avowal
Oppositedenial, disavowal, concealment
Note
The everyday sense, carried into English through Old French from Latin cōnfessiō, a word that already meant both acknowledgment and the avowal of a faith. It displaced the native Old English andetnes. One makes a confession to a crime or of a fault, but older use is broader: Shakespeare's Hamlet speaks of bringing someone to "some confession / Of his true state," with no wrongdoing implied.
- 2The disclosure of one's sins to a priest in order to receive absolution.
Many Catholics attend confession during the season of Lent.
The priest heard her confession in the quiet of the side chapel.
Similarpenance, reconciliation
Note
Church usage treats the word like church or school. One goes to confession, with no article, but a priest hears a confession, which can be counted. Shakespeare names both halves of the rite in Romeo and Juliet, going "to make confession, and to be absolv'd." In the Roman Catholic Church the same practice is now also called the sacrament of reconciliation, and both names are current.
- 3
- 4An acknowledgment of one's belief; an open profession of one's faith.
The martyr's confession of faith never wavered, even under threat of death.
Their shared confession of belief drew the scattered community together.
Similarprofession, declaration, affirmation, avowal, testimony
Oppositedenial, renunciation, recantation, apostasy
Note
Here confessing means declaring rather than admitting: nothing shameful is owned, and a belief is simply stated aloud. The King James Bible of 1611 has "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation," which describes the act itself. When the profession hardens into a fixed text that members sign, the word becomes the written creed. The phrase "confession of faith" can mean either one.
- 5A formal statement of the articles of faith, set out as a creed to be assented to or signed before admission to church membership.
Each candidate for membership must affirm the congregation's confession of faith.
The synod revised its confession to clarify several doctrinal points.
- 6The act of openly declaring one's romantic love for another person.
The series built steadily toward the hero's tearful confession on the school rooftop, where he finally told her how he felt.
Fans of the manga waited years for Akiko's confession, and when she finally told Ren she loved him, the forums exploded.
Similardeclaration, avowal, profession, admission
Note
This sense was borrowed in meaning, not in form. It is a calque of Japanese kokuhaku, so the English word takes on the moment when one character tells another how they feel. It belongs chiefly to Japanese media and the fans who discuss it, and it seldom needs "of love" after it. Outside that setting, readers will hear the admission of wrongdoing instead.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English confessioun, from Old French confession, from Latin cōnfessiō, cōnfessiōnem ("confession, acknowledgment, avowal of one's faith"). It replaced the native Old English andetnes, and is a doublet of confessio, formed from confess plus -ion.