fess up
Admit your guilt
Fess up means to confess or admit to something, especially something embarrassing or incriminating: Come on, fess up—who ate the last cookie?
The phrase is informal and often used when pressing someone to reveal the truth.
Fess is a clipped form of confess that appears almost exclusively in this expression.
Acknowledge one's wrongdoing
- come cleanAdmit the full truth
- admitConfess or grant entry
- acknowledgeConfirm receipt or truth
- revealMake something visible
disclose · divulge · spill · unburden · tell the truth · level with · open up · bare one's soul
Guilt for wrongdoing
- shamePainful awareness of failure
- contritionRemorseful state over misdeeds
- culpabilityDeserving blame for wrongdoing
- regretSorrow over past actions
atonement · mea culpa · penitence · repentance · apology · conscience · self-reproach · accountability
Accordance with reality
- candorUnguarded truthfulness
- franknessDirect, unguarded honesty
- sincerityHonest, unfeigned genuineness
- transparencyState of being see-through
openness · straightforwardness · forthrightness · integrity · authenticity · veracity · bluntness · directness
own up
Acknowledge one's wrongdoing
- come cleanAdmit the full truth
- admitConfess or grant entry
- acknowledgeConfirm receipt or truth
reveal · disclose · divulge · spill · unburden · tell the truth · level with · open up · bare one's soul · spill the beans
remorse
Guilt for wrongdoing
- shamePainful awareness of failure
- contritionRemorseful state over misdeeds
- culpabilityDeserving blame for wrongdoing
regret · atonement · mea culpa · penitence · repentance · apology · conscience · self-reproach · accountability · responsibility
truth
Accordance with reality
- candorUnguarded truthfulness
- franknessDirect, unguarded honesty
- sincerityHonest, unfeigned genuineness
transparency · openness · straightforwardness · forthrightness · integrity · authenticity · veracity · bluntness · directness · straight talk
- accountabilityaccountability, responsibility, accountable, take responsibility, answerability
- disclosurerevealing, disclosing, disclosure, disclose, divulge
- reconciliationreconciliation, reconcile, reconciled, reconciling, making up
- explanationswhy, how come, explication, what happened, definition
- commandsgo, stop, wait, come, run
fess uppoint fingers
Attribute blame to others
pass the buck · scapegoat · deflect · make excuses · rationalize
confess, professor, profession, confession, confessed, confessor, profess, professed, confessing