Apologise

How to spell apologise

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce apologise

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does apologise mean?

1. verbTo express regret or acknowledge fault for something one has done.

Apologise in a sentence

• The airline agreed to apologise for the delayed flight.

• He refused to apologise until he understood his mistake.

Where does apologise come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek apologia, which literally meant 'a speech in one's own defence', built from apo, meaning 'from' or 'away', and logos, meaning 'speech' or 'word'. In its earliest English use during the 1500s, an apology was a formal justification or defence of a position rather than an expression of regret; Socrates famously delivered such a defence at his trial. The verb arrived through French apologiser and Late Latin apologia, and over the 1600s and 1700s the sense softened from 'defend oneself' to 'admit fault and express regret'. The shared logos root links it to words such as logic, dialogue, and catalogue, all involving words or reasoning. The -ise ending is the standard British and Commonwealth verb suffix; American writers spell the same word with -ize, which is the spelling trap that catches careful writers most often.

How the word is built

• apo- (from, away)
• log (from logos: speech, word)
• -ise (verb-forming suffix)

British and American spelling

Apologise is the British spelling. American English spells it apologize.