Synonyms for confess
kənˈfɛscon·fess

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:2.0 / 1 vote

1. confess

   We accept another's statement; admit any point made against us; acknowledge what we have said or done, good or bad; avow our individual beliefs or feelings; certify to facts within our knowledge; confess our own faults; endorse a friend's note or statement; grant a request; own our faults or obligations; recognize lawful authority; concede a claim. Confess has a high and sacred use in the religious sense; as, to confess Christ before men. It may have also a playful sense (often with to); as, one confesses to a weakness for confectionery. The chief present use of the word, however, is in the sense of making known to others one's own wrong-doing; in this sense confess is stronger than acknowledge or admit, and more specific than own; a person admits a mistake; acknowledges a fault; confesses sin or crime. Compare APOLOGY; AVOW.

   Synonyms:
   accept, acknowledge, admit, allow, avow, certify, concede, disclose, endorse, grant, own, recognize

   Antonyms:
   cloak, conceal, cover, deny, disavow, disguise, disown, dissemble, dissimulate, hide, mask, repudiate, screen, secrete, veil

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:1.0 / 1 vote

1. confess

   Synonyms:
   avow, aver, own, reveal, disclose, acknowledge

   Antonyms:
   disaver, disavow, suppress, silentiate, deny

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:1.0 / 5 votes

1. confess, squeal, finkverb

   confess to a punishable or reprehensible deed, usually under pressure

   Synonyms:
   oink, scab, fink, squeal, concede, profess, blackleg, rat

2. concede, profess, confessverb

   admit (to a wrongdoing)

   "She confessed that she had taken the money"

   Synonyms:
   yield, cede, pretend, grant, concede, profess, fink, squeal

3. confessverb

   confess to God in the presence of a priest, as in the Catholic faith

   Synonyms:
   fink, concede, squeal, profess

Matched Categories

1. • Admit

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. confessverb

   Synonyms:
   acknowledge (as a crime or fault), own, avow

2. confessverb

   Synonyms:
   admit, grant, concede, recognize

3. confessverb

   Synonyms:
   attest, prove, show, exhibit, manifest, be proof of

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. confessverb

   Synonyms:
   acknowledge, own, admit, avow, divulge, disclose, reveal

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:2.0 / 1 vote

1. List of paraphrases for "confess":

   admit, recognise, acknowledge, confession, say, recognize

Suggested Resources

1. Confess

   Admit vs. Confess -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Admit and Confess.

How to pronounce confess?

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Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use confess in a sentence?

1. Publilius Syrus:

   To confess a fault freely is the next thing to being innocent of it.

2. Douglas Kirkland:

   I must confess I woke up during the night on more than one occasion, wondering if I was in over my head.

3. Barack Obama:

   I'm the first to confess, you know, I was not able to give this message effectively, it's just not the stuff that moved people to vote, and the other side didn't get punished for it.

4. Whenever Langston:

   I want to say I stole a 50 cent off your desk, i didn't think he would've noticed 50 cents gone him from his desk. So, throughout the day, he kept just picking about it, throwing out hints that he knows that it's gone. So I had to confess because it was eating me up on the inside. I was like, ‘Pastor, I can't lie. I stole 50 cents from your desk.’ And he tried to act shocked.

5. Tammy Nelson:

   Sometimes, an affair is a result of an opportunity that comes at a moment of resentment, of instability in the marriage, or at a time when the cheating partner is feeling like they need an ego boost, however, afterwards, the cheater realizes they feel worse because they have violated their own implicit vow to be faithful, and the guilt usually forces them to confess.