confession

noun

1. 1

   The open admittance of having done something (especially something bad).

   Without the real murderer's confession, an innocent person could be jailed.

   With a crafty madness keeps aloof, / When we would bring him on to some confession / Of his true state.

   If you’re looking for juicier confessions – that is, admissions of the kinds of sins unearthed on detective shows or reality TV – then you’ll want to look elsewhere. My sinning life is rather uneventful.

   That all changed last month when 37-year-old Peralta borrowed a phone, called police and made a blunt confession to a crime he says he committed nearly 15 years ago, according to an arrest affidavit.

2. 2

   A formal document providing such an admission.

   He forced me to sign a confession!

3. 3

   The disclosure of one's sins to a priest for absolution. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is now also termed the sacrament of reconciliation.

   I went to confession and now I feel much better about what I had done.

   Hauing diſpleaſ'd my Father, to Lawrence Cell, / To make confeſſion, and to be abſolu'd.

4. 4

   Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith.

   With the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

5. 5

   A formula 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.

6. 6

   The act of professing one's love.

Forms

plural

confessions