confessor

noun

Definition of confessornext
as in chaplain

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of confessor The same thing could be witnessed, in decades past, on more secular (but hardly less ceremonial) television programs like The Oprah Winfrey Show, where talk show luminaries act as confessors to erring movie stars. — Ian Buruma, Harper's Magazine, 2 June 2023 This is Benny’s domain, where over 23 years he’s served as confidant and confessor for the city’s most elite — and the people who want to feel that way for just one night. — Claire Ballor, Dallas News, 12 Apr. 2023 One confessor told him not to worry so much. — New York Times, 18 June 2021 Those who were imprisoned for their faith but released – called confessors — were venerated by their communities in the same way. — Joanne M. Pierce, The Conversation, 25 Jan. 2023 See All Example Sentences for confessor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for confessor
  1. chaplain
  2. pastor
  3. rector
  4. vicar
  5. parson
  6. bishop
  7. abbot
  8. archbishop
Noun
  • Other sites that showed La Guardia as a Grandview police chaplain also were taken down after the allegations surfaced — including the Grandview Police Department’s chaplain site, which had photos and bios of its chaplains, with La Guardia described as a head chaplain.
    — Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 5 Mar. 2025
  • In Lucas Hnath’s play Dana H. the central character, Dana Higginbotham, a psych ward chaplain, recounts the devastating ordeal of being kidnapped by one of her patients for five months.
    — Jeryl Brunner, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2025
Definition of chaplain
Noun
  • While in town, travelers can also visit the Rosa Parks Museum, which tells the story of the Montgomery bus boycott and the fight against segregation, and the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where Dr. King served as a pastor.
    — Bailey Berg, AFAR Media, 14 Mar. 2025
  • Despite all the pastor’s conventionality and sanctimony, there are flames between them, but those flickers run fairly cool until a breaking point in which Manders at last makes explicit reference to them.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 10 Mar. 2025
Definition of pastor
Noun
  • Ciotti had gone to speak to the school’s rector, to explain why the girl’s real name could not be used.
    — D. T. Max, The New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2024
  • Other information provided by the Archdiocese noted Reidy was ordained by Bishop Timothy J. Harrington at Saint Paul Cathedral in Worcester in 1994, and was assigned to St. Peter Parish in Worcester before becoming rector of Saint Paul Cathedral by Bishop Daniel P. Reilly.
    — Staff report, Hartford Courant, 12 Feb. 2025
Definition of rector
Noun
  • Currently the parochial vicar at St. Lucy Parish in Campbell, Rev. Pedigo formerly served as pastor at St. Julie Billiart and Our Lady of Guadalupe in San Jose.
    — Sal Pizarro, The Mercury News, 8 Mar. 2025
  • What to Know On Tuesday evening, members of the Argentine community in Rome gathered at the Argentine church for a special mass led by Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the pope's vicar for Rome.
    — Ross Rosenfeld, Newsweek, 26 Feb. 2025
Definition of vicar
Noun
  • Writing in the eighteenth century, Smith compared energetic and often sensationalist Methodist preachers with the more reserved and cerebral parsons of the Church of England.
    — Shadi Hamid, Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2024
  • The other is her violent stepfather, who, in this version, is also the church’s parson (Steven Pasquale).
    — Jesse Green, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2024
Definition of parson
Noun
  • Unlike a synod of bishops, this will be a unique gathering of bishops, clergy, monks, friars, nuns and lay men and women.
    — Christopher Lamb, CNN, 15 Mar. 2025
  • The Vatican office for the synod, or gathering of bishops, released a timetable through 2028 to implement the reforms and said Francis had approved the calendar last week.
    — Colleen Barry, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2025
Definition of bishop
Noun
  • King Sverre of Norway personally provided information to the writer, Icelandic abbot Karl Jónsson, and instructed him on the details of the saga, Brink added.
    — Hannah Peart, NBC News, 28 Oct. 2024
  • The abbot told him to begin every morning by performing exactly 108 bows, a meditation exercise in Korean Buddhism.
    — Max Kim, Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2024
Definition of abbot
Noun
  • Religious sisters join them, wearing a variety of habits that signal their order, as well as bishops and archbishops.
    — Timothy Nerozzi, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Special prayer services are being conducted around the world, including Argentina, where the pope was born and served as an archbishop before his ascension to the papacy.
    — John Bacon, USA TODAY, 26 Feb. 2025
Definition of archbishop

Browse Nearby Words

confessions
confessor
confessors
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Cite this Entry

“Confessor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/confessor. Accessed 28 Mar. 2025.

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