A small enclosed booth in a church where priests hear confessions from parishioners. Also used as an adjective meaning relating to confession or revealing personal secrets.
From Medieval Latin 'confessionalis', derived from 'confessio' (confession) plus the suffix '-alis'. The booth design developed in the 16th century following the Council of Trent's reforms, standardizing the practice of private confession in Catholic churches.
The confessional booth was a revolutionary privacy innovation - before the 16th century, confession was often done openly or with minimal privacy barriers. Modern 'confessional' writing and TV shows borrow this concept of protected space for revealing secrets, though without the religious absolution aspect.
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