1.  confession(n = noun.communication) - an admission of misdeeds or faults;
is a kind of admission
has particulars: self-accusation, self-condemnation
Derived forms verb confess₂, verb confess₁

2.  confession(n = noun.communication) - a written document acknowledging an offense and signed by the guilty party;
is a kind of document, papers, written document
Derived forms verb confess₂, verb confess₁

3.  confession(n = noun.act) - (Roman Catholic Church) the act of a penitent disclosing his sinfulness before a priest in the sacrament of penance in the hope of absolution;
is a kind of penance
has particulars: shrift
Derived form verb confess₃

4.  confession(n = noun.communication) - a public declaration of your faith;
is a kind of declaration

5.  confession(n = noun.communication) - the document that spells out the belief system of a given church (especially the Reformation churches of the 16th century);
is a kind of church doctrine, creed, gospel, religious doctrine
has particulars: augsburg confession

1.  Acknowledgment; avowal, especially in a matter pertaining to one's self; the admission of a debt, obligation, or crime. [1913 Webster]
"With a crafty madness keeps aloof,
When we would bring him on to some confession
Of his true state." [1913 Webster]

2.  Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith. [1913 Webster]
"With the mouth confession is made unto salvation." [1913 Webster]

3.  The act of disclosing sins or faults to a priest in order to obtain sacramental absolution. [1913 Webster]
"Auricular confession . . . or the private and special confession of sins to a priest for the purpose of obtaining his absolution." [1913 Webster]

4.  A formulary in which the articles of faith are comprised; a creed to be assented to or signed, as a preliminary to admission to membership of a church; a confession of faith. [1913 Webster]

5.  An admission by a party to whom an act is imputed, in relation to such act. A judicial confession settles the issue to which it applies; an extrajudical confession may be explained or rebutted. Wharton. [1913 Webster]

confession, n.
1 a confessing or acknowledgement of a fault, wrongdoing, a sin to a priest, etc. b an instance of this. c a thing confessed.
2 (in full confession of faith) a a declaration of one's religious beliefs. b a statement of one's principles.

Derivative:
confessionary adj.

Etymology:
ME f. OF f. L confessio -onis (as confess)

N  penitence, contrition, compunction, repentance, remorse, regret, self-reproach, self-reproof, self-accusation, self-condemnation, self-humiliation, stings of conscience, pangs of conscience, qualms of conscience, prickings of conscience, twinge of conscience, twitch of conscience, touch of conscience, voice of conscience, compunctious visitings of nature, acknowledgment, confession, apology, recantation, penance, resipiscence, awakened conscience, deathbed repentance, locus paenitentiae, stool of repentance, cuttystool, penitent, repentant, Magdalen, prodigal son, a sadder and a wiser man, penitent, repenting, repentant, contrite, conscience- smitten, conscience-stricken, self-accusing, self-convicted, penitential, penitentiary, reclaimed, reborn, not hardened, unhardened, mea culpa, peccavi, erubuit, salva res est, Tu l'as voulu, Georges Dandin, and wet his grave with my repentant tears.

N  disclosure, retection, unveiling, deterration, revealment, revelation, exposition, exposure, expose, whole truth, telltale, acknowledgment, avowal, confession, confessional, shrift, bursting of a bubble, denouement, tattletale, snitch, fink, stool pigeon, canary, disclosed, open, public, Int, out with it!, the murder is out, a light breaks in upon one, the scales fall from one's eyes, the eyes are opened.

augsburg confession, confession of judgement, confession of judgment