confiteor · noun — A prayer, typically beginning “I confess to Almighty God…” in English, in which public confession of sins is made.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
confiteor is pronounced /kənˈfɪtiɔː/.
Why “confiteor” is a great word
A formal, set prayer of public penitence recited in Christian liturgy, beginning with the Latin word for 'I confess'. From Latin cōnfiteor ('I confess'), the first word and title of the prayer in Ecclesiastical Latin, from the verb confitērī ('to confess, acknowledge'). Unlike the general act of 'confession' or the specific, personal declaration of 'mea culpa', the Confiteor is a communal script—the murmured chorus in the half-light of a cathedral, the bowed heads in a unison of failing, the ancient, practiced words that make a private failing a public fact. It is the voice of a community folding its failings into a single, ancient utterance, where to name sin is to begin unburdening it.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From Latin cōnfiteor (“to confess”), the first word of the prayer and used as its title in Ecclesiastical Latin. Doublet of confess.
noun
- A prayer, typically beginning “I confess to Almighty God…” in English, in which public confession of sins is made.e.g.““Pugh!” she said. “You are disgusting! Go into the chapel now and say a confiteor each for your sin.”” — 1967, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 240, page 80:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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