confession

English

Alternative forms

• confessione (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English confessioun, from Old French confession, from Latin cōnfessiō, cōnfessiōnem (“confession, acknowledgment, creed or avowal of one's faith”). Displaced native Old English andetnes. Doublet of confessio.

Morphologically confess +‎ -ion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈfɛʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʃən

Noun

confession (countable and uncountable, plural confessions)

1. The open admittance of having done something (especially something bad).

   Without the real murderer's confession, an innocent person will go to jail.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

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

2. A formal document providing such an admission.

   He forced me to sign a confession!

   • 1968, Robert Conquest, The Great Terror: Stalin's Purge of the Thirties‎^[1], Macmillan Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 493:

     Both the basic idea of confession, and the techniques devised by Yezhov for extracting them, however, were to receive significant employment in Asia in the 1950s. The Chinese accused the Americans of waging bacteriological warfare in Korea. The evidence they produced consisted of feathers, insects, clams, rats, and other things riddled with germs and allegedly dropped from American planes. Such evidence was not, on the face of it, very convincing - though even this was accepted by one type of Westerner. To fortify their case, the Chinese resorted to confessions, extracted from American pilots.

4. (Christianity) The disclosure of one's sins to a priest for absolution. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is now also termed the sacrament of reconciliation.

   I went to confession and now I feel much better about what I had done.

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:

     Hauing diſpleaſ'd my Father, to Lawrence Cell, / To make confeſſion, and to be abſolu'd.

5. Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 10:10:

     With the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

6. A formula 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.

Derived terms

• Aaron's confession
• confessional
• confession booth
• confession box
• nonconfession

 

Related terms

• confess

Translations

open admittance

• Arabic: إِقْرَار m (ʔiqrār), اِعْتِرَاف m (iʕtirāf)
• Armenian: խոստովանություն (hy) (xostovanutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: etiraf (az), iqrar
• Belarusian: прызна́нне n (pryznánnje), вызна́нне n (vyznánnje)
• Bulgarian: призна́ние (bg) n (priznánie)
• Catalan: confessió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自白 (zh) (zìbái), 承認／承认 (zh) (chéngrèn), 自供 (zh) (zìgòng), 供認／供认 (zh) (gòngrèn), 坦白 (zh) (tǎnbái), 交代 (zh) (jiāodài)

• Czech: vyznání n, přiznání (cs) n
• Danish: tilståelse c
• Dutch: bekentenis (nl) f
• Esperanto: konfeso
• Finnish: tunnustus (fi)
• French: confession (fr) f
• Friulian: confession f
• Galician: confesión f
• Georgian: აღიარება (aɣiareba), ცნობა (cnoba)
• German: Bekenntnis (de) n, Eingeständnis (de) n, Geständnis (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍄 n (andahait)
• Hebrew: וידוי / וִדּוּי m (vidúy)
• Hindi: इक़रार m (iqrār), संस्वीकृति (sansvīkŕti), स्वीकारोक्ति (hi) (svīkārokti), इक़बाल (iqbāl), एतिराफ़ (etirāf)
• Hungarian: vallomás (hu)
• Icelandic: játning (is) f
• Indonesian: pengakuan (id)
• Irish: admháil f
• Italian: confessione (it) f
• Japanese: 白状 (ja) (はくじょう, hakujō), 自白 (ja) (じはく, jihaku), 告白 (ja) (こくはく, kokuhaku), 自供 (ja) (じきょう, jikyō)
• Korean: 고백(告白) (ko) (gobaek), 자백(自白) (ko) (jabaek)
• Latin: cōnfessiō f
• Macedonian: признавање f (priznavanje)
• Maori: whākinga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tilståelse m

• Occitan: confession (oc) f
• Old English: andetnes f
• Pashto: اعتراف (ps) m (e'terãf), اقرار (ps) m (eqrãr)
• Persian: اعتراف (fa) (e'terâf), اقرار (fa) (eqrâr)
• Plautdietsch: Bekjantniss n
• Polish: wyznanie (pl) n, przyznanie się (pl) n, spowiedź (pl) f, zwierzenie n
• Portuguese: confissão (pt) f
• Romanian: confesiune (ro) f, mărturisire (ro) f, recunoaștere (ro) f
• Russian: призна́ние (ru) n (priznánije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: призна́ње n

  Roman: priznánje (sh) n

• Slovak: vyznanie n, priznanie n
• Slovene: priznanje n
• Spanish: confesión (es) f
• Swedish: bekännelse (sv) c, erkännande (sv) n, medgivande (sv) n
• Tagalog: pagtatapat
• Tajik: эътироф (tg) (eʾtirof), иқрор (iqror)
• Tocharian B: teśit
• Turkish: itiraf (tr), ikrar (tr)
• Ukrainian: визна́ння n (vyznánnja), визнаття́ n (vyznattjá), призна́ння (uk) n (pryznánnja)
• Urdu: اقرار m (iqrār)
• Uyghur: ئىقرار (iqrar)
• Uzbek: iqror (uz)
• Welsh: cyffes f, cyffesau f pl

document

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自供狀／自供状 (zh) (zìgòngzhuàng), 供詞／供词 (zh) (gòngcí), 供狀／供状 (zh) (gòngzhuàng), 自白書／自白书 (zh) (zìbáishū)

• Finnish: tunnustus (fi)
• Russian: призна́ние (ru) n (priznánije)

disclosure of one's sins to a priest

• Albanian: pranim (sq) m
• Arabic: إِقْرَار m (ʔiqrār), اِعْتِرَاف m (iʕtirāf)
• Armenian: խոստովանություն (hy) (xostovanutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: tövbə (az), etiraf (az), iqrar
• Belarusian: спо́ведзь f (spóvjedzʹ)
• Bulgarian: и́зповед (bg) f (ízpoved)
• Catalan: confessió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 懺悔／忏悔 (zh) (chànhuǐ)

• Czech: zpověď (cs) f
• Danish: skrifte
• Dutch: biecht (nl)
• Estonian: ülestunnistus
• Finnish: synnintunnustus, rippi (fi)
• French: confession (fr) f

  Old French: confession f

• Friulian: confession f
• Galician: confesión f
• Georgian: აღსარება (aɣsareba)
• German: Beichte (de) f
• Greek: εξομολόγηση (el) f (exomológisi)

  Ancient: ἐξομολόγησις f (exomológēsis)

• Hebrew: וידוי / וִדּוּי m (vidúy)
• Hindi: पाप-स्वीकरण (pāp-svīkraṇ), इक़रार m (iqrār), इकरार (hi) m (ikrār)
• Hungarian: gyónás (hu)
• Ido: konfesiono (io)
• Irish: faoistin f
• Italian: confessione (it) f
• Japanese: 懺悔 (ja) (ざんげ, zange), 告解 (ja) (こっかい, kokkai)
• Kazakh: тәубе (täube)
• Korean: 참회(懺悔) (ko) (chamhoe), 고해(告解) (ko) (gohae)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: îtîraf (ku), mikûr (ku)

• Kyrgyz: тобо кылуу (tobo kıluu)
• Latin: cōnfessiō f
• Latvian: atzīšanās m
• Lithuanian: išpažintis m
• Macedonian: исповед f (ispoved)
• Malay: pengakuan dosa
• Manx: feyshtyn f
• Maori: whākinga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skriftemål n

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: исповѣдь f (ispovědĭ)

• Old English: andetnes f
• Pashto: اقرار (ps) m (eqrãr), اعتراف (ps) m (e'terãf)
• Persian: اقرار (fa) (eqrâr), اعتراف (fa) (e'terâf)
• Polish: spowiedź (pl) f, wyspowiadanie się (pl) n
• Portuguese: confissão (pt) f
• Romanian: confesiune (ro) f, mărturisire (ro) f, spovedire (ro) f
• Russian: и́споведь (ru) f (íspovedʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: (with article) èisteachd f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: и̏спове̄д f, и̏сповије̄д f, ѝспове̄ст f, ѝсповије̄ст f

  Roman: ȉspovēd (sh) f, ȉspovijēd (sh) f, ìspovēst (sh) f, ìspovijēst (sh) f

• Slovak: spoveď f
• Slovene: spoved (sl) f
• Spanish: confesión (es) f
• Swedish: bikt (sv) c
• Tagalog: kumpisal (tl)
• Tajik: омурзиш (omurziš), иқрор (iqror), иътироф (iʾtirof)
• Turkish: tevbe (tr), ikrar (tr), itiraf (tr)
• Ukrainian: спо́відь f (spóvidʹ)
• Urdu: اقرار m (iqrār), اعتراف (i'tirāf)
• Uyghur: ئىقرار (iqrar)
• Uzbek: tavba (uz), iqror (uz)
• Vietnamese: xưng tội (vi) (稱罪)
• West Frisian: bycht

acknowledgment of belief

• Arabic: طَائِفَة (ar) f (ṭāʔifa)
• Belarusian: веравызна́нне n (vjeravyznánnje), вызна́нне n (vyznánnje), канфе́сія f (kanfjésija)
• Bulgarian: вероизпове́дание (bg) n (veroizpovédanie)
• Finnish: uskontunnustus (fi)
• Georgian: აღსარება (aɣsareba), აღმსარებლობა (aɣmsarebloba), რჯული (rǯuli), სარწმუნოება (sarc̣munoeba)
• Polish: wyznanie (pl) n, konfesja (pl) f
• Russian: вероиспове́дание (ru) n (veroispovédanije), конфе́ссия (ru) f (konféssija)
• Ukrainian: віросповіда́ння n (virospovidánnja), віровизна́ння n (virovyznánnja), визна́ння n (vyznánnja), конфе́сія (uk) f (konfésija)

formula

• Finnish: uskontunnustus (fi)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French confession, from Latin cōnfessiōnem (“confession, acknowledgment, creed or avowal of one's faith”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.fɛ.sjɔ̃/, /kɔ̃.fe.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

confession f (plural confessions)

1. confession (admittance of having done something, good, bad or neutral)
2. confession (the disclosure of one's sins to a priest for absolution)
3. creed (a declaration of one's religious faith)

Derived terms

• donner le bon Dieu sans confession

Descendants

• → German: Konfession
• → Romanian: confesiune

Further reading

• “confession”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Friulian

Noun

confession f (plural confessions)

1. confession

Middle English

Noun

confession (plural confessions)

1. alternative form of confessioun

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin cōnfessiō.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

confession f (plural confessions)

1. confession

Related terms

• confessar

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cōnfessiō, cōnfessiōnem.

Noun

confession oblique singular, f (oblique plural confessions, nominative singular confession, nominative plural confessions)

1. confession (the disclosure of one's sins to a clergyman for absolution)

Descendants

• French: confession
  • → German: Konfession
  • → Romanian: confesiune
• → Middle English: confessioun, confession, confessyon, confessyone, confessyown
  • English: confession