fess up

fess up
verb
admit or acknowledge a wrongdoing or error
-

the writer of the anonymous letter owned up after they identified his handwriting

• Hypernyms: ↑concede, ↑profess, ↑confess
• Verb Frames:
-

Somebody ——s

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ˌfess ˈup [intransitive] [present tense I/you/we/they fess up he/she/it fesses up present participle fessing up past tense fessed up past participle fessed up] informal phrasal verb
to admit that something is true or that you have done something wrong

It’s time to fess up – did you spend all that money?

Thesaurus: to admit that something is truesynonym to admit you are wrong or have done something wrongsynonym
Main entry: fess

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fess up [phrasal verb]
chiefly US informal : to admit that you have done something wrong : ↑confess

At first he denied everything, but eventually he fessed up.

He finally fessed up about his involvement. = He finally fessed up to being involved.

• • •
Main Entry: ↑fess

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ˌfess ˈup derived
(NAmE, informal) to admit that you have done sth wrong
Syn: ↑own up

•

It's time for the President to fess up.

Main entry: ↑fessderived

Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Fess — is also an acronym for functional endoscopic sinus surgery.In heraldry, a fess is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally and centrally across the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield s surface… …   Wikipedia

  • Fess — Fess, Fesse Fesse, n. [OF. fesse, faisse, F. fasce, fr. L. fascia band. See {Fascia}.] (Her.) A band drawn horizontally across the center of an escutcheon, and containing in breadth the third part of it; one of the nine honorable ordinaries.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Fess — bezeichnet: eine Operationsmethode in der HNO Heilkunde. FESS ist das Akronym aus Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery . der Kurzname für Professor Longhair, ein US amerikanischer Musiker der Vorname von Fess Parker (1924–2010), amerikanischer… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • fess — [fes] v fess up to admit that you have done something wrong, although it is not very serious = ↑own up ▪ Come on, fess up! Who ate that last cookie? …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • fess — [ fes ] verb ,fess up phrasal verb intransitive INFORMAL to admit that something is true or that you have done something wrong: It s time to fess up, did you spend all that money? …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • fess up — ☆ fess up or fess up [fes ] vi. 〚aphetic for CONFESS〛 Informal to admit or acknowledge something; confess * * * …   Universalium

  • fess up — ☆ fess up or fess up [fes ] vi. [aphetic for CONFESS] Informal to admit or acknowledge something; confess …   English World dictionary

  • fess — or fesse [fes] n. [ME fesse < OFr < L fascia, a band, FASCIA] Heraldry a horizontal band forming the middle third of a shield …   English World dictionary

  • fess — con·fess·ed·ly; con·fess·ing·ly; fess; pro·fess; pro·fess·ant; con·fess; …   English syllables

  • fess — UK [fes] / US verb Word forms fess : present tense I/you/we/they fess he/she/it fesses present participle fessing past tense fessed past participle fessed Phrasal verbs: fess up …   English dictionary

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