CONFESSION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Confession

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/kənfˈɛʃən/ Listen

noun

Confession n.

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."

2.

Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith. "With the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

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."

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.

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.

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.

See images of 'Confession'

Etymology of 'Confession'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Confession" Quotes from Famous Books

... to her own astonishment, her endurance came to its end. She had never expected to say what she was now going to say to him. She had never dreamed of confession—of enlightening him. And now, all at once, she knew she was going to do it, and that it was a needless and cruel and insane and useless thing to do, for it led her nowhere, and it would leave him in ...

— The Crimson Tide • Robert W. Chambers

... "Or a confession of failure from Francis ... to let us know that he has done nothing, adding that he is accordingly sulking 'like Achilles ...

— The Man with the Clubfoot • Valentine Williams

... every one either that confesses by the word of mouth that Christ dwells in them that are of God. A Scriptural confession is not by word only, but by the deed, or life. Every one who confesses by their life that Christ is come in the flesh or dwells in them must and will abide in the whole doctrine of Christ, and live just as he lived. Such a one is of God, and is a light even as Christ was ...

— The Gospel Day • Charles Ebert Orr

... the girl made her so-called confession, which the simple mourning she had already worn, without stating for whom, seemed to bear out; and soon the story of the little romance spread through the village and country-side, almost as far as Melchester. It was a curious psychological fact that, having once made the ...

— A Group of Noble Dames • Thomas Hardy

... Christian's neck," he commanded, turning to the executioner, "and hang this man in his place, seeing that by his own confession he is the murderer." ...

— The Arabian Nights Entertainments • Andrew Lang.

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