Definition of confess

• v. t. - To make acknowledgment or avowal in a matter pertaining to one's self; to acknowledge, own, or admit, as a crime, a fault, a debt.
• v. t. - To acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in.
• v. t. - To admit as true; to assent to; to acknowledge, as after a previous doubt, denial, or concealment.
• v. t. - To make known or acknowledge, as one's sins to a priest, in order to receive absolution; -- sometimes followed by the reflexive pronoun.
• v. t. - To hear or receive such confession; -- said of a priest.
• v. t. - To disclose or reveal, as an effect discloses its cause; to prove; to attest.
• v. i. - To make confession; to disclose sins or faults, or the state of the conscience.
• v. i. - To acknowledge; to admit; to concede.