Meaning

In the manner or style of a confession..

Definitions by Sense

1. In the manner or style of a confession.
2. Officially practicing a particular shared religion, as a state or organization; see confessionalism (sense 1).
3. (Roman Catholicism) A small room where confession—the Sacrament of Penance—is performed in private with a priest.
4. A confession.
5. (reality television) A filmed interview in which a cast member speaks directly into the camera commenting on the events of the episode.

Example Sentences

The studied reticence of the poems in quatrains is opposed to the more confessional aspects of the monologue.

confessional community

The confessional's chief amusement has been seduction–in all the ages of the Church.

In one of the aisles there was an elaborately carved confessional box and I recognised the village priest in his heavy mountain boots and black cassock as he entered it and drew the dark velvet curtains behind him.

When a 35-year-old Bill Clinton, famously the nation’s youngest former governor, set out in 1982 to reclaim the job he had lost two years earlier, he began with a remarkable televised confessional. “My daddy never had to whip me twice for the same thing,” Mr. Clinton told Arkansans in a campaign commercial, acknowledging voters’ anger over his having raised a hated vehicle fee and vowing to listen better if they gave him another chance as governor.

These characters behave as crassly as they do in large part because producers of shows such as The Bachelor deprive them of all contact with the outside world ([…]) and ply them with alcohol, then goad them to unleash their petty grievances in filmed "confessionals".

We see Brooks seethe in a corner, and, in a cut to a confessional, he exaggerates the scene, saying, “I’m feeling really uncomfortable. Her vagina’s in my face.”

Word Forms

• more confessional
• most confessional
• confessionals

Synonyms for confessional

Related Words

When Should You Use Confessional?

Use confessional when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

Practice This Word

Frequently Asked Questions