Apologize

//əˈpɒləd͡ʒaɪz// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make an apology or excuse; to acknowledge some fault or offense, with expression of regret for it, by way of amends British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive, often

    "My correspondent apologized for not answering my letter."

  2. 2
    acknowledge faults or shortcomings or failing wordnet
  3. 3
    To express regret that a certain event has occurred. British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive
  4. 4
    defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning wordnet
  5. 5
    To make an apologia or defense; to act as apologist. British, English, Oxford, US, dated, intransitive

    "To this purpose the most witty, cautious and subtile ſort of the Pagans apologize for themselves"

Synonyms

All synonyms
alibialibi out ofapologiseapologize forask forgivenessbeg indulgence

Example

More examples

"I think that you ought to apologize to her."

Etymology

From apology + -ize, from ἀπολογία (apología, “a speech in defense”), from ἀπολογέομαι (apologéomai, “to speak in one’s defense”), from ἀπόλογος (apólogos, “an account, story”), compound of ἀπο- (apo-, “from, off”) and λόγος (lógos, “speech”); compare also ἀπολογίζομαι (apologízomai, “to render an account”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.