different between confession vs affirm

English

Alternative forms

• confessione (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English confessioun, from Old French confession, from Latin c?nfessi?, c?nfessi?nem (“confession, acknowledgment, creed or avowal of one's faith”). Doublet of confessio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?f???n/

Noun

confession (countable and uncountable, plural confessions)

1. The open admittance of having done something (especially something bad).
2. A formal document providing such an admission.

3. (Christianity) The disclosure of one's sins to a priest for absolution. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is now termed the sacrament of reconciliation.

   I went to confession and now I feel much better about what I had done.
4. Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith.
5. A formula in which the articles of faith are comprised; a creed to be assented to or signed, as a preliminary to admission to membership of a church; a confession of faith.

Derived terms

• confessional
• nonconfession

Related terms

• confess

Translations

French

Etymology

From Old French confession, from Latin c?nfessi?, c?nfessi?nem (“confession, acknowledgment, creed or avowal of one's faith”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.f?.sj??/

Noun

confession f (plural confessions)

1. confession (admittance of having done something, good, bad or neutral)
2. confession (the disclosure of one's sins to a priest for absolution)
3. creed (a declaration of one's religious faith)

Derived terms

• donner le bon Dieu sans confession

Descendants

• ? German: Konfession
• ? Romanian: confesiune

Further reading

• “confession” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle English

Noun

confession (plural confessions)

1. alternative form of confessioun

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin c?nfessi?.

Noun

confession f (plural confessions)

1. confession

Related terms

• confessar

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin c?nfessi?, c?nfessi?nem.

Noun

confession f (oblique plural confessions, nominative singular confession, nominative plural confessions)

1. confession (the disclosure of one's sins to a clergyman for absolution)

Descendants

• French: confession
  • ? German: Konfession
  • ? Romanian: confesiune
• ? Middle English: confessioun, confession, confessyon, confessyone, confessyown
  • English: confession

English

Etymology

From Middle English affirmen, affermen, from Old French afermer, affermer, from Latin affirmare, adfirmare (“to present as fixed, aver, affirm”), from ad (“to”) + firmare (“to make firm”), from firmus (“firm”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??f?m/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??f??m/
• Rhymes: -??(?)m

Verb

affirm (third-person singular simple present affirms, present participle affirming, simple past and past participle affirmed)

1. To agree, verify or concur; to answer positively.

   She affirmed that she would go when I asked her.

2. To assert positively; to tell with confidence; to aver; to maintain as true.
3. To support or encourage.

   They did everything they could to affirm the children's self-confidence.

4. To make firm; to confirm, or ratify; especially (law) to assert or confirm, as a judgment, decree, or order, brought before an appellate court for review.

Synonyms

• validate

Antonyms

• disaffirm
• deny (of 1,2)
• repudiate (of 2)
• invalidate (of 4)

Related terms

• affirmation
• affirmative

Translations

See also

• affirmative action
• confirm

Further reading

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