Part 450

As I confess it needs must be. Tennyson.

As an actor confessed without rival to shine. Goldsmith.

4. (Eccl.) (a) To make known or acknowledge, as one's sins to a priest, in order to receive absolution; -- sometimes followed by the reflexive pronoun.

Our beautiful votary took an opportunity of confessing herself to this celebrated father. Addison.

(b) To hear or receive such confession; - - said of a priest.

He . . . heard mass, and the prince, his son, with him, and the most part of his company were confessed. Ld. Berners.

5. To disclose or reveal, as an effect discloses its cause; to prove; to attest.

Tall thriving trees confessed the fruitful mold. Pope.

Syn. -- Admit; grant; concede; avow; own; assent; recognize; prove; exhibit; attest. -- To Confess, Acknowledge, Avow. Acknowledge is opposed to conceal. We acknowledge what we feel must or ought to be made known. (See Acknowledge.) Avow is opposed to withhold. We avow when we make an open and public declaration, as against obloquy or opposition; as, to avow one's principles; to avow one's participation in some act. Confess is opposed to deny. We confess (in the ordinary sense of the word) what we feel to have been wrong; as, to confess one's errors or faults. We sometimes use confess and acknowledge when there is no admission of our being in the wrong; as, this, I confess, is my opinion; I acknowledge I have always thought so; but in these cases we mean simply to imply that others may perhaps think us in the wrong, and hence we use the words by way of deference to their opinions. It was in this way that the early Christians were led to use the Latin confiteor and confessio fidei to denote the public declaration of their faith in Christianity; and hence the corresponding use in English of the verb confess and the noun confession.

Con*fess", v. i. 1. To make confession; to disclose sins or faults, or the state of the conscience.

Every tongue shall confess to God. Rom. xiv. 11.

2. To acknowledge; to admit; to concede.

But since (And I confess with right) you think me bound. Tennyson.

Con*fess"ant (?), n. [F. confessant.] One who confesses to a priest. [Obs.] Bacon.

Con*fess"a*ry (?), n. [LL. confessarius.] One who makes a confession. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

Con*fess"ed*ly (?), adv. By confession; without denial. [Written also confessly.]

Con*fess"er (?), n. One who makes a confession.

Con*fes"sion (?), n. [F. confession, L. confessio.] 1. Acknowledgment; avowal, especially in a matter pertaining to one's self; the admission of a debt, obligation, or crime.

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

2. Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith.

With the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Rom. x. 10.

3. (Eccl.) The act of disclosing sins or faults to a priest in order to obtain sacramental absolution.

Auricular confession . . . or the private and special confession of sins to a priest for the purpose of obtaining his absolution. Hallam.

4. A formulary 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.

5. (Law) An admission by a party to whom an act is imputed, in relation to such act. A judicial confession settles the issue to which it applies; an extrajudical confession may be explained or rebutted. Wharton.

Confession and avoidance (Law), a mode of pleading in which the party confesses the facts as stated by his adversary, but alleges some new matter by way of avoiding the legal effect claimed for them. Mozley & W.

Confession of faith, a formulary containing the articles of faith; a creed. -- General confession, the confession of sins made by a number of persons in common, as in public prayer. -- Westminster Confession. See Westminster Assembly, under Assembly.

Con*fes"sion*al (?), n. [F. confessional.] The recess, seat, or inclosed place, where a priest sits to hear confessions; often a small structure furnished with a seat for the priest and with a window or aperture so that the penitent who is outside may whisper into the priest's ear without being seen by him or heard by others.