confession
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for confession Expand
late 14c. "action of confessing," originally in religion, from Old French confession (10c.), from Latin confessionem (nominative confessio ) "confession, acknowledgement," noun of action from past participle stem of confiteri (see confess ). In law, from 1570s. Meaning "that which is confessed" is mid-15c. An Old English word for it was andettung. also scriftspræc .
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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confession in Culture Expand
confession definition
In some church es, notably the Roman Catholic Church. a sacrament in which repentant sinners individually or as a group privately confess their sins in front of a priest and receive absolution from the guilt of their sins.
In the first few centuries of Christianity. repentant sinners were assigned public penances: sinners had to stay outside the entrance of the church and ask the people going inside to pray for them. The period of public penance could be shortened through an indulgence .
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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