See 'fess in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "'fesses",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "'fessing",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "'fessed",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "'fessed",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "'fess (third-person singular simple present 'fesses, present participle 'fessing, simple past and past participle 'fessed)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"alt_of": [
{
"extra": "confess",
"word": "fess"
}
],
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
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}
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "'fess up"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
80,
85
]
],
"ref": "1999 March 24, westxnwskye@my-dejanews.com, “the idaeiout: act three”, in alt.arts.poetry.comments (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "lissen asshol, IF I HAD WRITTEN SUCH A PIECE I'D A HAD A REASON FER IT; AND I'D 'FESS TO IT; […]",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
82,
89
]
],
"ref": "2000 August 5, Steven Sullivan, “Predictions for Igor”, in alt.music.yes (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": ": That behavior, of course, was all consensual and victimless.\nWell, the parts he 'fessed to, anyway.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
160,
167
]
],
"ref": "2004 July 14, veryrich, “Peterson: The boat will sink him”, in alt.true-crime (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "> >9. Scott said his fishing trip was spur of the moment.\n>\n> ***Yep--shows an absence of premeditation.\n?? Not with all the rest of the premeditated stuff. He 'fessed to fishing because he though he had to. Otherwise, why the elaborate \"I'm going/I was golfing\" set up?",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
82,
87
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],
"ref": "2004 September 10, nobody, “I started my new career...”, in alt.buddha.short.fat.guy (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "> Amen! Whereabouts are you teaching? Must be a private school.\nYeh. Not that I'd 'fess to anyone within hearin' distance which one it was.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
23,
30
]
],
"ref": "2004 November 14, John Riggs, “Florida Divorce”, in alt.support.divorce (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "Yup...posted before he 'fessed to trolling.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
175,
180
]
],
"ref": "2008 April 3, notbob, “OT Vista”, in rec.outdoors.fishing.fly (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "> claims that the Mac does not need any special drivers. I don't\n> understand the mac geeks who think that Apple can do no wrong.\nAfter paying through the nose, they'll never 'fess to it.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
29,
36
]
],
"ref": "2008 December 4, Carl Sundquist, “another case of clinical \"asthma\"”, in rec.bicycles.racing (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "I saw the beginning where he 'fessed to Sonye and kept reading until I saw where he had put ventolin on the meds taken list, then stopped where he made all his lame denials.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
99,
104
]
],
"ref": "2009 January 13, wcmartell, “Israel doesn't use illegal weapons”, in misc.writing.screenplays.moderated (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "You shouldn't *defend* the bad things you have done, or claim you didn't do them - you should just 'fess to them.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Alternative form of fess (“confess”)."
],
"id": "en-'fess-en-verb-15Kdnc5k",
"links": [
[
"fess",
"fess#English"
],
[
"confess",
"confess"
]
],
"tags": [
"alt-of",
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]
}
],
"word": "'fess"
}
{
"derived": [
{
"word": "'fess up"
}
],
"forms": [
{
"form": "'fesses",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "'fessing",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "'fessed",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "'fessed",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
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"args": {},
"expansion": "'fess (third-person singular simple present 'fesses, present participle 'fessing, simple past and past participle 'fessed)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"alt_of": [
{
"extra": "confess",
"word": "fess"
}
],
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English terms with quotations",
"English verbs",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
80,
85
]
],
"ref": "1999 March 24, westxnwskye@my-dejanews.com, “the idaeiout: act three”, in alt.arts.poetry.comments (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "lissen asshol, IF I HAD WRITTEN SUCH A PIECE I'D A HAD A REASON FER IT; AND I'D 'FESS TO IT; […]",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
82,
89
]
],
"ref": "2000 August 5, Steven Sullivan, “Predictions for Igor”, in alt.music.yes (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": ": That behavior, of course, was all consensual and victimless.\nWell, the parts he 'fessed to, anyway.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
160,
167
]
],
"ref": "2004 July 14, veryrich, “Peterson: The boat will sink him”, in alt.true-crime (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "> >9. Scott said his fishing trip was spur of the moment.\n>\n> ***Yep--shows an absence of premeditation.\n?? Not with all the rest of the premeditated stuff. He 'fessed to fishing because he though he had to. Otherwise, why the elaborate \"I'm going/I was golfing\" set up?",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
82,
87
]
],
"ref": "2004 September 10, nobody, “I started my new career...”, in alt.buddha.short.fat.guy (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "> Amen! Whereabouts are you teaching? Must be a private school.\nYeh. Not that I'd 'fess to anyone within hearin' distance which one it was.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
23,
30
]
],
"ref": "2004 November 14, John Riggs, “Florida Divorce”, in alt.support.divorce (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "Yup...posted before he 'fessed to trolling.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
175,
180
]
],
"ref": "2008 April 3, notbob, “OT Vista”, in rec.outdoors.fishing.fly (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "> claims that the Mac does not need any special drivers. I don't\n> understand the mac geeks who think that Apple can do no wrong.\nAfter paying through the nose, they'll never 'fess to it.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
29,
36
]
],
"ref": "2008 December 4, Carl Sundquist, “another case of clinical \"asthma\"”, in rec.bicycles.racing (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "I saw the beginning where he 'fessed to Sonye and kept reading until I saw where he had put ventolin on the meds taken list, then stopped where he made all his lame denials.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
99,
104
]
],
"ref": "2009 January 13, wcmartell, “Israel doesn't use illegal weapons”, in misc.writing.screenplays.moderated (Usenet), archived from the original on 17 Sep 2025:",
"text": "You shouldn't *defend* the bad things you have done, or claim you didn't do them - you should just 'fess to them.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Alternative form of fess (“confess”)."
],
"links": [
[
"fess",
"fess#English"
],
[
"confess",
"confess"
]
],
"tags": [
"alt-of",
"alternative"
]
}
],
"word": "'fess"
}
Download raw JSONL data for 'fess meaning in English (3.7kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-10-04 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-09-20 using wiktextract (ea0d853 and 1ab82da). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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