confession

noun

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

   “Without the real murderer's confession, an innocent person could be jailed.”

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

   “If you’re looking for juicier confessions – that is, admissions of the kinds of sins unearthed on detective shows or reality TV – then you’ll want to look elsewhere. My sinning life is rather uneventful.”

   “That all changed last month when 37-year-old Peralta borrowed a phone, called police and made a blunt confession to a crime he says he committed nearly 15 years ago, according to an arrest affidavit.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A formal document providing such an admission.

   “He forced me to sign a confession!”

3. (countable, uncountable)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.”

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

4. (countable, uncountable)Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith.

   “With the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

5. (countable, uncountable)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.
6. (Japanese, countable, uncountable)The act of professing one's love.