a person who confesses in or as if in a confessional
Word origin
[1820–30; confessional + -ist]This word is first recorded in the period 1820–30. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: analogue, boomerang, exogenous, insider, tetrapod-ist is a suffix of nouns, often corresponding to verbs ending in -ize or nouns ending in -ism, that denote a person who practices or is concerned with something, or holds certainprinciples, doctrines, etc. Other words that use the affix -ist include: Thomist, apologist, machinist, novelist, socialist