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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

fess up en · VERB

Pronunciation

Etymology

Clipping of confess up.

Meanings

  1. (colloquial, intransitive) To confess to something; to admit something.
    • “I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was happening in the financial industry, and I came to the conclusion that people weren’t fessing up,” he said. 2009 February 26, Roy Furchgott, “You’ve Sold Your Stocks. Now What?”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022:
    • "‛Fess up," she persisted. "Have you boys been quarreling again?" 1918, Rex Ellingwood Beach, chapter 26, in The Winds of Chance:
    • And you know, one of the things that I hope is that the American people will find when we make a mistake, we're willing to 'fess up to it and change. 2008 December 18, Barack Obama, President-elect press conference:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
fesses up Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
fessed up Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
fessed up Tense=Past lexicographic
fessing up Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
'fess up alternative lexicographic

Deriveds

snitch up

Synonyms

own up

Translations (5)

pl przyznawać się (to confess) · pl przyznać się (to confess) · de beichten (to confess) · de gestehen (to confess) · de zugeben (to confess)