apologize

English

Alternative forms

• apologise (Commonwealth)

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈpɒləd͡ʒaɪz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈpɑləd͡ʒaɪz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

apologize (third-person singular simple present apologizes, present participle apologizing, simple past and past participle apologized)

1. (intransitive, often followed by “for”) To make an apology or excuse; to acknowledge some fault or offense, with expression of regret for it, by way of amends

   My correspondent apologized for not answering my letter.

   • 1856, James Anthony Froude, History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of Elizabeth:

     Barnes was commanded, with Garrett and Jerome, to make a public acknowledgment of his errors; and to apologize especially for his insolent language to Gardiner

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Today I want to apologize to my co-workers.

     Audio (US)

     (file)

2. (intransitive) To express regret that a certain event has occurred.
3. (intransitive, dated) To make an apologia or defense; to act as apologist.
   • 1660, H[enry] More, An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness; […], London: […] J[ames] Flesher, for W[illiam] Morden […], →OCLC:

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

Derived terms

• apologist
• apologizer, apologiser
• preapologize

 

Related terms

• apologetics
• apology

 

Translations

to express regret

• Finnish: pahoitella (fi)
• French: s’excuser (fr), présenter des excuses
• Italian: chiedere perdono, chiedere scusa, scusarsi (it)
• Latin: sibi paenitēre
• Maori: whakapāha
• Polish: przepraszać (pl) impf, przeprosić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: pedir desculpas/perdão, desculpar-se

to make an apology or defense

• Catalan: apologitzar (ca)
• Dutch: verantwoorden (nl)
• Finnish: puolustella (fi)
• French: faire l’apologie de
• Hungarian: védőbeszédet tart
• Old English: lādung f
• Portuguese: apologizar, fazer apologia a

to make an apology or excuse

• Albanian: kërkoj falje
• American Sign Language: A@Chest-PalmBack CirclesVert
• Arabic: اِعْتَذَرَ‎ (iʕtaḏara), اِسْتَعْذَرَ‎ (istaʕḏara), اِسْتَصْفَحَ‎ (istaṣfaḥa)
• Armenian: ներողություն խնդրել (neroġutʿyun xndrel)
• Azerbaijani: üzr istəmək
• Belarusian: выбача́цца impf (vybačácca), вы́бачыцца pf (výbačycca), прабача́цца impf (prabačácca), праба́чыцца pf (prabáčycca), перапра́шваць impf (pjeraprášvacʹ), перапрасі́ць pf (pjeraprasícʹ)
• Bulgarian: извиня́вам се (bg) impf (izvinjávam se), извиня́ се pf (izvinjá se)
• Burmese: တောင်းပန် (my) (taung:pan)
• Catalan: apologitzar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Dungan: доҗи (doži)

  Mandarin: 道歉 (zh) (dàoqiàn)

• Czech: omlouvat se (cs) impf, omluvit se (cs) pf
• Danish: undskylde sig (da)
• Dutch: zich verontschuldigen (nl)
• Esperanto: pardonpeti
• Estonian: vabandama (et)
• Finnish: pyytää anteeksi (fi), pahoitella (fi)
• French: s’excuser (fr)
• Georgian: ბოდიშის მოხდა (bodišis moxda)
• German: sich entschuldigen (de)
• Greek: ζητάω συγγνώμη (zitáo syngnómi)
• Hebrew: הִתְנַצֵּל‎ (hitnatsél)
• Hindi: क्षमा मांगना (kṣamā māṅgnā)
• Hungarian: bocsánatot kér (hu), elnézést kér (hu), sajnálkozik (hu)
• Ido: exkuzar (io)
• Ingrian: kyssyä anteeks
• Italian: scusarsi (it)
• Japanese: 謝る (ja) (あやまる, ayamaru), 詫びる (ja) (わびる, wabiru), 謝罪する (ja) (しゃざいする, shazai suru)
• Kazakh: кешірім сұрау (kk) (keşırım sūrau)
• Khmer: លន់តួ (km) (lŭən tuə)
• Korean: 사과하다 (ko) (sagwahada), 사죄하다 (ko) (sajoehada)
• Kyrgyz: кечирим суроо (keçirim suroo)
• Lao: ຂໍໂທດ (khǭ thōt)
• Latvian: atvainoties
• Lithuanian: atsiprašyti (lt)
• Macedonian: се извинува impf (se izvinuva), се извини pf (se izvini)
• Maori: whakapāha
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: unnskylde seg, beklage

• Old English: lādian
• Persian: عذرخواهی کردن‎ (fa) ('ozr-xâhi kardan), معذرت خواستن‎ (fa) (ma'zerat xâstan)
• Polish: przepraszać (pl) impf, przeprosić (pl) pf, apologizować impf
• Portuguese: desculpar-se
• Romanian: cere scuze
• Russian: извиня́ться (ru) impf (izvinjátʹsja), извини́ться (ru) pf (izvinítʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: испри́чати се pf

  Roman: ispríčati se (sh) pf

• Slovak: ospravedlňovať sa impf, ospravedlniť sa pf
• Slovene: opravičevati se impf, opravičiti se pf
• Spanish: disculparse (es)
• Swedish: be om ursäkt (sv), ursäkta sig (sv)
• Tajik: узр хостан (uzr xostan), узр пурсидан (uzr pursidan), афв талабидан (afv talabidan)
• Thai: ขอโทษ (th) (kɔ̌ɔ-tôot)
• Turkish: özür dilemek (tr)
• Turkmen: ötünç soramak
• Ukrainian: вибача́тися impf (vybačátysja), ви́бачитися pf (výbačytysja), перепро́шувати impf (perepróšuvaty), перепроси́ти pf (pereprosýty)
• Urdu: عُذْر کَرْنَا‎ ('uzr karnā), مُعافی مانْگْنا‎ (mu'āfī māṅgnā)
• Uyghur: كەچۈرۈم سورىماق‎ (kechürüm sorimaq)
• Uzbek: kechirim soʻramoq, uzr soʻramoq, afv soʻramoq
• Vietnamese: xin lỗi (vi)
• Yiddish: אַנטשולדיקן זיך‎ (antshuldikn zikh)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: verantwoorden (nl)
• Georgian: ბოდიშის მოხდა (bodišis moxda)
• Hebrew: התנצל‎ (hitnatsél), ביקש סליחה‎ (bikésh slikhá)
• Welsh: ymddiheurio

References

• “apologize”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Portuguese

Verb

apologize

1. inflection of apologizar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative