MEANING
1. To hear a person's confession and grant religious absolution.
2. To make confession of wrongdoing, usually to seek penance or absolution.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- shrive a penitent
- be shriven
On the page
The chaplain shrove the penitent before the procession began.
He asked to be shriven before returning to the house.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- shrive
- Past tense
- shrove or shrived
- Past participle
- shriven or shrived
- Present participle
- shriving
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- shrive
- Present continuous
- am/is/are shriving
- Present perfect
- have/has shriven or shrived
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been shriving
- Past
- shrove or shrived
- Past continuous
- was/were shriving
- Past perfect
- had shriven or shrived
- Past perfect continuous
- had been shriving
- Future
- will shrive
- Future continuous
- will be shriving
- Future perfect
- will have shriven or shrived
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been shriving
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: gothic. Forms: shrive; shrives; shrove or shrived; shriven or shrived; shriving Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: shrives.
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