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

• IPA^(key): /əˈpɑləd͡ʒaɪz/
• IPA^(key): /əˈpɒləd͡ʒaɪz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dr. H. More to this entry?)

Derived terms

• apologist
• apologizer, apologiser
• preapologize

 

Related terms

• apologetics
• apology

 

Translations

to express regret

• Finnish: pahoitella (fi)
• Interlingue: ,
• Maori: whakapāha
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: pedir desculpas/perdão, desculpar-se

to make an apology or defense

• Catalan: apologitzar (ca)
• Dutch: verantwoorden (nl)
• Finnish: puolustella (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: faire l’apologie de
• Hungarian: védőbeszédet tart (védőbeszéd (hu) + tart (hu))
• Portuguese: apologizar, fazer apologia a

to make an apology or excuse

• American Sign Language: A@Chest-PalmBack CirclesVert
• Arabic: إِعْتَذَرَ (ʔiʕtaḏara)
• 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 impf (izvinjávam se)
• Burmese: တောင်းပန် (my) (taung:pan)
• Catalan: apologitzar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Dungan: доҗи (doži)

  Mandarin: 道歉 (zh) (dàoqiàn)

• Czech: omluvit se (cs) pf, omlouvat se (cs) impf
• Danish: undskylde sig (da)
• Dutch: zich verontschuldigen
• Esperanto: pardonpeti
• Finnish: pyytää anteeksi (fi), pahoitella (fi)
• French: s’excuser (fr)
• Georgian: ბოდიშის მოხდა (bodišis moxda)
• German: sich entschuldigen (de)
• Hebrew: הִתְנַצֵּל (hitnatsél)
• Hungarian: bocsánatot kér (hu), elnézést kér (hu), sajnálkozik (hu)
• Ido: exkuzar (io)
• Italian: scusare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 謝る (ja) (あやまる, ayamaru), 詫びる (わびる, wabiru)
• Korean: 사과하다 (ko) (sagwahada)
• Macedonian: се извинува impf (se izvinuva), се извини pf (se izvini)
• Maori: whakapāha
• Norwegian: beklage

  Bokmål: unnskylde seg

• Polish: przepraszać (pl) impf, przeprosić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: desculpar-se
• 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: ursäkta sig (sv)
• Thai: ขอโทษ (th) (kɔ̌ɔ-tôot)
• Ukrainian: вибача́тися impf (vybačátysja), ви́бачитися pf (výbačytysja), перепро́шувати impf (perepróšuvaty), перепроси́ти pf (pereprosýty)
• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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. Template:pt-verb-form-of