əˈpäləjē noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle French or Late Latin; Middle French apologie, from Late Latin apologia, from Greek, from apo- + -logia (from logos speech) — more at legend
1. : something said or written in defense or justification of what appears to others to be wrong or of what may be liable to disapprobation
an apology for a country's foreign policy
2. : an attempt to justify or excuse
a convenient apology for their ruthlessness in Darwinian philosophy — J.D.Hicks
3. : an acknowledgment intended as an atonement for some improper or injurious remark or act : an admission to another of a wrong or discourtesy done him accompanied by an expression of regret
an apology to a hostess for being late
4. : something that serves as an excuse for the absence of something : a poor specimen or substitute : makeshift
devising apologies for window curtains — Charles Dickens
Synonyms:
apologia , excuse , plea , pretext , alibi : apology in today's English usually indicates either a frank regretful admission that one has been wrong or a defense involving mitigating or extenuating circumstances
an apology for the offense
traffic congestion was their apology for being so late
Sometimes, like the word apologia , it is used without suggestions of guilt or error simply to indicate an explanation for a course or belief
Justin Martyr, a native of Samaria, who wrote one of the more famous of the apologies for Christianity, and who won his sobriquet by his death for the faith — K.S.Latourette
the preface to Mirsky's book on Lenin contains his apologia for his shift of allegiance to the Soviet power — Edmund Wilson
excuse indicates an explanation offered to escape censure or blame
it matters not that some uncontrollable impulse, the product of mental disease, may have driven the defendant to the commission of the murderous act. The law knows nothing of such excuses — B.N.Cardozo
plea usually involves an appeal for understanding, sympathy, or clemency
old Hepzibah's scowl could no longer vindicate itself entirely on the plea of nearsightedness — Nathaniel Hawthorne
pretext suggests a subterfuge, an offer of an untrue reason or motive
he made my health a pretext for taking all the heavy chores, long after I was as well as he was — Willa Cather
the hypocrisy that covers gainful exploitation by the pretext of a civilizing mission, concerned with the elevation of the native population — J.A.Hobson
alibi , legally a plea that one was elsewhere than at the place at which a crime was committed, may be applied to a mitigating or placating explanation
the alibis of many churches for their failure to provide qualified chaplains — Scott Hershey & Harry Tennant
federal taxes are already being used as an alibi for cuts in local school budgets — H.M.Groves