Word Finder - confessing

definition

To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed.

example

I confess to spray-painting all over that mural!

definition

To acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in.

definition

To unburden (oneself) of sins to God or a priest, in order to receive absolution.

definition

To hear or receive such a confession of sins from.

definition

To disclose or reveal.

definition

The act of making a confession.

All his time was spent in preaching, confessing, visiting the sick, relieving the poor.

No one ever thought of confessing sin, for instance, to a river.

Hegel the tourist - recalling happy days spent together; confessing that, were it not because of his sense of duty as a traveller, he would rather be at home, dividing his time between his books and his wife; commenting on the shop windows at Vienna; describing the straw hats of the Parisian ladies - is a contrast to the professor of a profound philosophical system.

In the centre the colossal statue of Luther rises, on a pedestal at the base of which are sitting figures of Peter Waldo, Wycliffe, Hus and Savonarola, the heralds of the Reformation; at the corners of the platform, on lower pedestals, are statues of Luther's contemporaries, Melanchthon, Reuchlin, Philip of Hesse, and Frederick the Wise of Saxony, between which are allegorical figures of Magdeburg (mourning), Spires (protesting) and Augsburg (confessing).

Though, in accounting for the anger of the gods, no sharp distinction is made between moral offences and a ritualistic oversight or neglect, yet the stress laid in the hymns and prayers, as well as in the elaborate atonement ritual prescribed in order to appease the anger of the gods, on the need of being clean and pure in the sight of the higher powers, the inculcation of a proper aspect of humility, and above all the need of confessing one's guilt and sins without any reserve - all this bears testimony to the strength which the ethical factor acquired in the domain of the religion.

In August he was forced to sign a further declaration, confessing his own wickedness in dealing with the Irish, his father's blood-guiltiness, his mother's idolatry, and his abhorrence of prelacy, besides ratifying his allegiance to the covenants and to Presbyterianism.

According to Bellarmine, Garnet's zealous friend and defender, "If the person confessing be concealed, it is lawful for a priest to break the seal of confession in order to avert a great calamity "; but he justifies Garnet's silence by insisting that it was not lawful to disclose a treasonable secret to a heretical king.

Ordinarily the sinful cleric prayed and fasted at his own discretion, and nothing is said of his confessing his sins.

It was more and more regarded as the special function of the priest to administer absolution, though as late as the i 6th century we hear of laymen confessing to and absolving one another on the battlefield because no priest was at hand.

Fitzmaurice came in and knelt in the mud at the president's feet, confessing his sins; but he remained the real victor.

His chancellor, Nogaret, went to Anagni to seize the pope and drag him before a council; but Boniface died without confessing himself vanquished.

Others, including pastors, followed, also publicly confessing their sins.

Guerra escaped; Lucrezia, Giacomo and Bernardo confessed the crime; and Beatrice, who at first denied everything, even under torture, also ended by confessing.

Bonitz (1848), who is the most faithful of all commentators, because to great industry and acumen he adds the rare gift of confessing when he does not understand, and when he does not know what Aristotle might have thought.

Pursuing his victory, Wallace ravaged Cumberland, most English writers say with savage ferocity; but Hemingburgh represents Wallace as courteous on one occasion, and as confessing that his men were out of hand.

The problem is, these same friends want Mike to steal something too, partly as an initiation but mostly so he won't be able to tell on them without confessing himself.

Instead of confessing his undying love for Melissa, Jason said "…we're not right for each other."

Ouch. You have to feel for the girl, after confessing that in all of her relationships she was the "dumpee," to have it happen again in front of millions has got to be beyond humiliating and hurtful.

As a result, there is no way you can talk with your boyfriend now without confessing your own behavior.

For this reason, it is a good idea to take some time to get to know the woman before confessing your strong feelings for her.

If your priest doesn't work in HR, think before you start confessing what you may wish you had not.

Despite the girls confessing them to be fakes when they were both in their 60's there is still some argument that they are actually real.

Confessing there in her kitchen was not an option, but he needed to have this behind them, so decided he would tell her as soon as possible.

Two goats were provided by the ancient Hebrews on the Day of Atonement; the high priest sent one into the desert, after confessing on it the sins of Israel; it was not permitted to run free but was probably cast over a precipice; the other was sacrificed as a sin-offering.

Confessing his inexperience, the king prayed for a discerning heart, and was rewarded with the gift of wisdom together with riches and military glory.

Nothing is more natural than that the pious solicitude felt by all men for the bodies of their loved ones should in the primitive Christian Churches have been turned most strongly towards the bodies of those who had met with death in confessing their faith.

During its continuance plenary indulgence is obtainable by all the faithful, on condition of their penitently confessing their sins and visiting certain churches a stated number of times, or doing an equivalent amount of meritorious work.

The temple-tax was strictly exacted; Jews who lived the Jewish life without openly confessing their religion and Jews who concealed their nationality were brought before the magistrates.

But the way in which he founded the leading Christian doctrines (after confessing his inability to rationalize them) on the arbitrary will of God was undoubtedly calculated to help in the work of disintegration.

On every Christian, of either sex, arrived at years of discretion, the duty was imposed of confessing at least once annually and of receiving the Eucharist at least at Easter (Canon 21).

Tammy could swim almost as well as Lisa, but Sarah couldn't swim at all, confessing unabashed that she was afraid of the water.

Fines were imposed by way of penance on those confessing willingly.