confessed
verb
Form of confess , past tense of confess.
Simple meaning
To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhnfehstSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kənˈfɛst
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
past tense of confess
To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed.
past tense of confess
Admit (to a wrongdoing)
“She confessed that she had taken the money.”
past tense of confess
To unburden (oneself) of sins to God or a priest, in order to receive absolution.
past tense of confess
Confess to God in the presence of a priest, as in the Catholic faith
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, confessed 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
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use confessed
- “She confessed that she had taken the money.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Confess to a punishable or reprehensible deed, usually under pressure.
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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.