Confessions
Titled personal revelations
Confessions are admissions of wrongdoing, sin, or secrets.
In religion, confession is the formal acknowledgment of sins to a priest or to God.
In law, a confession admits guilt: The police obtained a confession.
The plural often titles autobiographical works revealing private truths: Augustine's *Confessions*, Rousseau's *Confessions*.
I have a confession to make introduces an admission of something hidden or embarrassing.
Accordance with reality
- guiltMoral self-reproach
- secretConcealed information
- revelationSurprising disclosed truth
- disclosureAct of revealing information
acknowledgment · admission · statement · witness · testimony · interrogation · courtroom · evidence
Self-mortification for wrongdoing
- absolutionFormal clearing of guilt
- priestOne who performs sacraments
- sinViolation of divine law
- forgivenessReleasing resentment toward offenders
sacrament · contrition · penitent · booth · reconciliation · Catholic · atonement · repentance
Fourth-century church father
- memoirWritten personal recollection
- autobiographySelf-penned life narrative
- RousseauFrench surname, philosopher or painter
- narrativeAccount of events
diary · journal · intimate · personal · reflection · self-examination · introspection · soul-baring
truth
Accordance with reality
- guiltMoral self-reproach
- secretConcealed information
- revelationSurprising disclosed truth
disclosure · acknowledgment · admission · statement · witness · testimony · interrogation · courtroom · evidence · suspect
penance
Self-mortification for wrongdoing
- absolutionFormal clearing of guilt
- priestOne who performs sacraments
- sinViolation of divine law
forgiveness · sacrament · contrition · penitent · booth · reconciliation · Catholic · atonement · repentance · Yom Kippur
Augustine
Fourth-century church father
- memoirWritten personal recollection
- autobiographySelf-penned life narrative
- RousseauFrench surname, philosopher or painter
narrative · diary · journal · intimate · personal · reflection · self-examination · introspection · soul-baring · candid
unburdening
Relieving oneself of weight
- catharsisPurification through emotional expression
- vulnerableOpen to attack
- shamePainful awareness of failure
relief · tears · whispered · heartfelt · painful · regret · apology · trust · intimacy · honesty
viral
Spreading quickly online
forum · Reddit · celebrity · tabloid · interview · scandal · trending · clickbait · public · exposé
- Philosophy ClassicsRepublic, Meditations, Nicomachean Ethics, Metaphysics, Symposium
- Ancient BiographiesPlutarch, Augustus, Augustine, Athanasius
- Augustine Works
- Latin FathersAugustine, Jerome, Ambrose
- Rousseau worksThe Social Contract, Emile, Julie, Dialogues, Pygmalion
- St. Patrickshamrock, Ireland, March 17, St. Patrick's Day, patron saint
Confessionslies
Deliberate untruths
fabrications · cover-ups · deceptions · denials · concealments
Confessionsdenials
Refusals to acknowledge
disavowals · repudiations · rebuttals · refutations · disclaimers
- confession of faithDoctrinal belief statement
- deathbed confessionDisclosure made while dying
- confession boothEnclosed space for admitting sins
- false confessionUntrue guilt statement
- true confessions
- forced confessionStatement extracted under pressure