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?

How to say confess in sign language?

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

1. 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Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use confess in a sentence?

1. Stanley Patz:

   We have now seen the confession, my family has seen the confession many times. So it's no longer as shocking but it's still just chilling. This man did it. He said it. How many times does a man have to confess before someone believes him?

2. Lucius Annaeus Seneca:

   Why does no one confess his sins? Because he is yet in them. It is for a man who has awoke from sleep to tell his dreams.

3. Edward Surratt:

   The only reason he would be confessing is to try to finish out his years a little more comfortably, would be my opinion, i look forward to the day that, hopefully, he'll sit down and just go right down the line and confess to every one of them that he did.

4. 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.

5. Confucius:

   The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it not having it, to confess your ignorance.