confessor
/kənˈfɛsɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.89 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
One who confesses faith in Christianity in the face of persecution, but who is not martyred.
noun
A priest who hears confession and then gives absolution.
Example Sentences
- "Long before Edward I, the English had a King Edward who they considered a martyr and a King Edward who they considered a confessor."
- "Confessors provided the troubled Church with an alternative sort of authority based on their sufferings, particularly when arguments began about how and how much to forgive those Christians who had given way to imperial orders – the so-called ‘lapsed’."
- "Near-synonym: confessant"
- "They do not feel connected to any gay/lesbian communities. Nor do they feel able to establish relationships with anyone who can support them. Thus an inexperienced but sincere young heterosexual actor can find himself playing not only role model but also confessor and phantom friend to people in great need."
Etymology
From Middle English confessor, confessour, from Anglo-Norman confessour, and its source, Latin cōnfessor, from cōnfiteor (“confess, admit, acknowledge”). By surface analysis, confess + -or.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: confessor, confessour, cōnfessor
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kənˈfɛsɚ/
- British English: /kənˈfɛsə/