Word.ws English Dictionary

apologize

/əˈpɒləˌd͡ʒaɪz/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/əˈpɔləˌd͡ʒɑjz/

apologize verb: to make an apology or excuse; to acknowledge some fault or offense, with expression of regret for it, by way of amends.

Verb

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

  1. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive, often) 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.
    • Barnes was commanded, with Garrett and Jerome, to make a public acknowledgment of his errors; and to apologize especially for his insolent language to Gardiner1856, James Anthony Froude, History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of Elizabeth
  2. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive) To express regret that a certain event has occurred.
  3. (British, English, Oxford, US, dated, intransitive) To make an apologia or defense; to act as apologist.
    • To this purpose the most witty, cautious and subtile ſort of the Pagans apologize for themselves1660, H[enry] More, An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness; […], London: […] J[ames] Flesher, for W[illiam] Morden […], →OCLC

apologize meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

apologize in Hindi

to make an apology or excuse
क्षमा मांगना kṣamā māṅgnā, माफ़ी माँगना māfī māṅgnā

apologize in Tamil

மன்னிப்புக் கோருதல், மன்னிப்பு கேளுங்கள், மன்னிப்பு கேட்க

apologize in Marathi

माफी मागणे, माफी मागतो, क्षमा मागणे

apologize in Urdu

to make an apology or excuse
عُذْر کَرْنَا 'uzr karnā, مُعافی مان٘گْنا mu'āfī māṅgnā
More languagesFewer languages
apologize in Bengali
ক্ষমা চাওয়া khoma caōẇa, মাফ চাওয়া maph caōẇa
apologize in Malayalam
ക്ഷമപറയുക, ക്ഷമായാചനം ചെയ്യുക, ക്ഷമാപണം നടത്തുക, മാപ്പപേക്ഷിക്കുക
apologize in Kannada
ಕ್ಷಮೆಯಾಚಿಸಿ
apologize in Punjabi
ਮੁਆਫੀ ਮੰਗੋ, ਮੁਆਫ਼ੀ ਮੰਗੋ
apologize in Gujarati
માફી માંગવી, માફી માગવી
apologize in Odia
କ୍ଷମା ମାଗିବା, କ୍ଷମା ମାଗନ୍ତୁ
apologize in Nepali
माफी माग्नु, माफी माग्ने
apologize in Pashto
معذرت غوښتل ma'zerat ǧwax̌təl, بخښنه غوښتل baxx̌ǝ́na ǧwax̌təl
apologize in Arabic
اِعْتَذَرَ iʕtaḏara, اِسْتَعْذَرَ istaʕḏara, اِسْتَصْفَحَ istaṣfaḥa
apologize in Thai
ขอโทษ kɔ̌ɔ-tôot
apologize in Vietnamese
xin lỗi
apologize in Myanmar
တောင်းပန် taung:pan, ဝန်ချ wanhkya.

Examples of apologize in a sentence

  • He wouldn't apologize; and just for that, she refused to help him.
  • You were late, which was bad, but what's worse, you haven't even apologized yet.
  • Apologizing for losing your temper, even though you were badly provoked, showed real class.

All 40 example sentences with apologize

Forms of apologize

third-person singular presentapologizes
present participleapologizing
past participleapologized
pastapologized
alternative formapologise

Past tense of apologize: apologized

Origin of apologize

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”).

Words formed from apologize

Words that rhyme with apologize

Questions about apologize

What does apologize mean?
Apologize means to make an apology or excuse; to acknowledge some fault or offense, with expression of regret for it, by way of amends.
What is apologize in Hindi?
Apologize in Hindi is क्षमा मांगना (kṣamā māṅgnā), माफ़ी माँगना (māfī māṅgnā). See Apologize meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is apologize?
Apologize is a verb.
How do you pronounce apologize?
Apologize is pronounced /əˈpɒləˌd͡ʒaɪz/ (UK).
What is the past tense of apologize?
The past tense of apologize is apologized.

Words near apologize in the dictionary

  1. apologist
  2. apologists
  3. apologizable
  4. apologization
  5. apologizations
  6. apologize
  7. apologized
  8. apologizer
  9. apologizers
  10. apologizes
  11. apologizin'

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: apologize (page history and authors); apologize (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); apologize (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); apologize (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); apologize (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); apologize (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); apologize (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); apologize (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); apologize (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-apologize.wav.

Cite this entry: “apologize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/apologize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.