different between confess vs assert

English

Etymology

From Middle English confessen, from Anglo-Norman confesser, from Old French confesser, from Medieval Latin confess? (“I confess”), a derivative of Latin confessus (Old French confés), past participle of c?nfiteor (“I confess, I admit”) from con- + fateor (“I admit”). Displaced Middle English andetten (“to confess, admit”) (from Old English andettan).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?f?s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Verb

confess (third-person singular simple present confesses, present participle confessing, simple past and past participle confessed)

2. To admit to the truth, particularly in the context of sins or crimes committed.

   I confess to spray-painting all over that mural!

   I confess that I am a sinner.

   • I must confess I was most pleased with a beautiful prospect that none of them have mentioned.

3. To acknowledge faith in; to profess belief in.

   • Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I confess, also, before my Father which is in heaven.

   • For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both.

4. (religion) To unburden (oneself) of sins to God or a priest, in order to receive absolution.

   • Our beautiful votary took an opportunity of confessing herself to this celebrated father.

5. (religion) To hear or receive such a confession of sins from.
   • 1523–1525, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (translator), Froissart's Chronicles

     He […] heard mass, and the prince, his son, with him, and the most part of his company were confessed.

7. To disclose or reveal.

Derived terms

• fess, fess up

Related terms

• confession
• confessional
• confessor

Translations

See also

• own up
• come clean

English

Etymology

From Latin assertus, perfect passive participle of asser? (“declare someone free or a slave by laying hands upon him; hence free from, protect, defend; lay claim to, assert, declare”), from ad (“to”) + ser? (“join, range in a row”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??s??t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??s?t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t

Verb

assert (third-person singular simple present asserts, present participle asserting, simple past and past participle asserted)

1. To declare with assurance or plainly and strongly; to state positively.

   He would often assert that there was life on other planets.

2. To use or exercise and thereby prove the existence of.

   to assert one's authority

   Salman Rushdie has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work.

3. To maintain or defend, as a cause or a claim, by words or measures; to vindicate a claim or title to

   to assert our rights and liberties

4. (programming) To specify that a condition or expression is true at a certain point in the code.
5. (electronics) To set a signal on a line using a voltage or electric current.

Antonyms

• remit
• deny
• deassert

Synonyms

• affirm
• asseverate
• aver

Related terms

Translations

Noun

assert (plural asserts)

1. (computer science) an assertion; a section of source code which tests whether an expected condition is true.

Translations

References

• “assert” in the Collins English Dictionary

Further reading

• assert in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• assert in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• assert at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Sastre, Saters, TASers, Tasers, Tesars, asters, reasts, setars, stares, stears, tarses, tasers

Portuguese

Noun

assert m (plural asserts)

1. (programming) assert (conditional statement that checks the validity of a value)