CONFESSOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does confessor mean? 

• CONFESSOR (noun)
  The noun CONFESSOR has 2 senses:

1. a priest who hears confession and gives absolution

2. someone who confesses (discloses information damaging to themselves)

  Familiarity information: CONFESSOR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONFESSOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A priest who hears confession and gives absolution

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("confessor" is a kind of...):

priest (a clergyman in Christian churches who has the authority to perform or administer various religious rites; one of the Holy Orders)

Derivation:

confess (confess to God in the presence of a priest, as in the Catholic faith)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who confesses (discloses information damaging to themselves)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("confessor" is a kind of...):

communicator (a person who communicates with others)

Derivation:

confess (admit (to a wrongdoing))

confess (confess to a punishable or reprehensible deed, usually under pressure)

 Context examples 

And yet—Ah well, you are, as I understand, a clerk, so I must think of you as one step further in orders, and make you my father-confessor.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A courtesy title of reverence, as for church dignitaries, officers of monasteries, monks, confessors, and especially priests.

(Father, NCI Thesaurus)

She was a Roman Catholic; and I believe her confessor confirmed the idea which she had conceived.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Ever since I was condemned, my confessor has besieged me; he threatened and menaced, until I almost began to think that I was the monster that he said I was.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

To the believer, clouds of angels and confessors, and martyrs, armies of the sainted and the saved, were ever stooping over their struggling brethren upon earth, raising, encouraging, and supporting them.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)