verb

apologize

To say that you are sorry for something you did.

He apologizes to his neighbor for blocking the shared driveway.

Etymology

The Greek source names a speech in one’s defense. English apologizing shifted from justifying conduct toward acknowledging a fault and expressing regret for it.

More examples

  • I should apologize for arriving so late.
  • She apologized after realizing she had interrupted.
  • They are apologizing to customers affected by the outage.

Forms

apologize · apologizes · apologized · apologizing

Similar words

regret
Feels sorrow without necessarily expressing it to the affected person.
atone
Makes amends through action rather than merely expressing sorrow.