Confessional
[kən'feʃ(ə)n(ə)l] or [kən'fɛʃənl]
Definition
(n.) The recess, seat, or inclosed place, where a priest sits to hear confessions; often a small structure furnished with a seat for the priest and with a window or aperture so that the penitent who is outside may whisper into the priest's ear without being seen by him or heard by others.
(a.) Pertaining to a confession of faith.
Edited by Astor
Examples
- The impulse under which I acted, the mood controlling me, were similar to the impulse and the mood which had induced me to visit the confessional. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- After a spacebreathless and spent in prayer, a penitent approached the confessional. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Awful crimes, no doubt; but he did not tell me what: there, you knowthe seal of the confessional checked his garrulity, and my curiosity. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Well, then, said Bois-Guilbert, I will speak as freely as ever did doting penitent to his ghostly father, when placed in the tricky confessional. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- I could find none of these in closet or chamber, so I went and sought them in church and confessional. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- The priest within the confessional never turned his eyes to regard mehe only quietly inclined his ear to my lips. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Emanuel drew nigh month by month--the sliding panel of the confessional. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Here, however, in this land of convents and confessionals, such a presence as his was not to be suffered with impunity in a pensionnat de demoiselles. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
Edited by Bessie