\Con*fess"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Confessed}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Confessing}.] [F. confesser, fr. L. confessus, p. p.
of confiteri to confess; con- + fateri to confess; akin to
fari to speak. See 2d {Ban}, {Fame}.]
1. 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.
         And there confess Humbly our faults, and pardon beg.
                                               --Milton.
         I must confess I was most pleased with a beautiful
         prospect that none of them have mentioned.
                                               --Addison.
2. To acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in.
         Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men,
         him will I confess, also, before my Father which is
         in heaven.                            --Matt. x. 32.
         For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection,
         neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess
         both.                                 --Acts xxiii.
                                               8.
3. To admit as true; to assent to; to acknowledge, as after a
   previous doubt, denial, or concealment.
         I never gave it him. Send for him hither, And let
         him confess a truth.                  --Shak.
         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.
Usage: {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.