con·fes·sor

(kən-fĕs′ər)

1. One who confesses.

2. One who confesses faith in Christianity in the face of persecution but does not suffer martyrdom.

a. A priest who hears confession and gives absolution.

b. A priest who is one's spiritual mentor.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

confessor

(kənˈfɛsə)

1. (Ecclesiastical Terms) Christianity chiefly RC Church a priest who hears confessions and sometimes acts as a spiritual counsellor

2. (Ecclesiastical Terms) history a person who bears witness to his Christian religious faith by the holiness of his life, esp in resisting threats or danger, but does not suffer martyrdom

3. a person who makes a confession

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

con•fes•sor

(kənˈfɛs ər)

n.

1. a person who confesses.

2. a priest authorized to hear confessions.

3. a male saint who suffered persecution but not martyrdom.

[before 1000; (in pl: confessores) < Late Latin]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	confessor - a priest who hears confession and gives absolution priest - a clergyman in Christian churches who has the authority to perform or administer various religious rites; one of the Holy Orders
	2.	confessor - someone who confesses (discloses information damaging to themselves) communicator - a person who communicates with others

confessor

noun

One in whom secrets are confided:

confidant, confidante, repository.

Translations

الكاهِن المُعرِّف

zpovědníkzpovědnice

skriftefader

Beichtvater

εξομολογητής πνευματικός

confesante

confesseur

gyóntató

skriftaprestur

confessore

skriftefar

spovedník

günah çıkaran papaz

忏悔神父

confessor

[kənˈfesəʳ] N (Rel) (= priest) → confesor m; (= adviser) → director m espiritual

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

confessor

[kənˈfɛsə^r] n → confesseur m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

confessor

(Eccl) → Beichtvater m

Edward the Confessor → Edward der Bekenner

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

confessor

[kənˈfɛsəʳ] n → confessore m

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

confess

(kənˈfes) verb

to make known that one is guilty, wrong etc; to admit. He confessed (to the crime); He confessed that he had broken the vase; It was stupid of me, I confess.

conˈfession (-ʃən) noun

1. acknowledgment of a crime or fault. The youth made a confession to the police officer.

2. (an) act of confessing one's sins to a priest. She went to confession every Friday.

conˈfessional (-ʃə-) noun

the seat etc where a priest sits when hearing confessions.

conˈfessor noun

a priest who hears confessions.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Since Aramis's singular transformation into a confessor of the order, Baisemeaux was no longer the same man.

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The viceroy, disappointed in his scheme, vented all his rage upon Father James, whom the patriarch had given him as his confessor; the good man was carried, bound hand and foot, into the middle of the camp; the viceroy gave the first stab in the throat, and all the rest struck him with their lances, and dipped their weapons in his blood, promising each other that they would never accept of any act of oblivion or terms of peace by which the Catholic religion was not abolished throughout the empire, and all those who professed it either banished or put to death.

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For the first of these, secrecy; it is indeed the virtue of a confessor. And assuredly, the secret man heareth many confessions.

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Nor did the Danish power last long, for in 1042 we had in Edward the Confessor an English king once more.

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"Well," said Raoul, "the poor man will get his priest, but, by Heaven, the penitent appears to me to have a better conscience than the confessor. I confess I am accustomed to priests of a very different appearance."

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Besides, you are my other confessor -- and what I have to say to one the other may hear.

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Casting a rapid glance at all those in the room and noticing the count's confessor there, she glided up to him with a sort of amble, not exactly bowing yet seeming to grow suddenly smaller, and respectfully received the blessing first of one and then of another priest.

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There, as it should be, the druggist is a counsellor, a confessor, an adviser, an able and willing missionary and mentor whose learning is respected, whose occult wisdom is venerated and whose medicine is often poured, untasted, into the gutter.

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Besides, a father confessor should be elderly, it is not at all the role for a young man.

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"`A person, whose confessor I am,' replied he, `and who entertains a high regard for me, applied to me a short time since to procure him a confidential servant.

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``Amen!'' answered the Jester; ``a broadcloth penitent should have a sackcloth confessor, and your frock may absolve my motley doublet into the bargain.''

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To be sure that about not letting my nails grow, and marrying again if I have the chance, will not slip out of my head; but all that other hash, muddle, and jumble- I don't and can't recollect any more of it than of last year's clouds; so it must be given me in writing; for though I can't either read or write, I'll give it to my confessor, to drive it into me and remind me of it whenever it is necessary."

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