confess
verb
Simple meaning
To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhnfehsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kənˈfɛs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitivetransitive
To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed.
Admit (to a wrongdoing)
“She confessed that she had taken the money.”
religion
To unburden (oneself) of sins to God or a priest, in order to receive absolution.
intransitivechiefly in the context of japanese media
To profess one's love.
transitive
To acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in.
transitive
To disclose or reveal.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed.
Used this way, confess is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- shrive , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use confess
- “She confessed that she had taken the money.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to admit to the truth
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.