Apologize

How to spell apologize

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce apologize

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does apologize mean?

1. verbTo express regret or say sorry for a fault, mistake, or offence.

Apologize in a sentence

• The manager called to apologize for the late delivery.

• He refused to apologize even after admitting the error.

Where does apologize 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 'away from' and logos 'speech' or 'reason'. In its earliest English life, around the late 1500s, to apologize meant 'to make a formal defence or justification', not to express regret at all. Over the 1600s and 1700s the sense softened from defending oneself to acknowledging a fault and saying sorry for it, which is how we use it today. The verb came into English through the Latin apologia and the French apologie, with the -ize ending modelled on the Greek verb suffix -izein, meaning roughly 'to make or to act'. The same logos root underlies a huge family of English words such as 'logic', 'dialogue' and 'apology', and remembering that 'apology' sits inside 'apologize' helps fix the single 'l' and the 'o' that many writers double or drop by mistake.

How the word is built

• apolog- (from Greek apologia: a speech in defence)
• -ize (verb-forming suffix: to make or do)

British and American spelling

Apologize is the American spelling. British English spells it apologise.