apologist

noun apol·o·gist \ ə-ˈpä-lə-jist \

Definition of apologist

:one who speaks or writes in defense of someone or something

See apologist defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of apologist from the Web

Sunday's episode brought all the Littlefinger apologists out on Twitter, and one of them caught the attention of Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark).

— christopher rosa, Glamour, "Sophie Turner Just Clapped Back at All the People Defending Littlefinger," 30 Aug. 2017
Bill Kristol accused Tucker Carlson, for no reason, of being an apologist for slavery and an anti-Semite.

— conrad black, National Review, "Reviling Trump," 22 Aug. 2017
Some historians have said that during Italy's unprovoked invasion of Ethiopia, Balbo's air force dropped bombs and fired machine guns at unarmed citizens (although local apologists for the aviator say that story is a myth).

— john greenfield, Chicago Reader, "Some Italian-Americans in Chicago say they ‘fiercely oppose’ renaming Balbo Drive," 21 Aug. 2017
White supremacists and Confederate apologists want other white people to join them in their half-baked fantasies of the antebellum South—plantations with white columns, dirt roads framed with Spanish moss, hoop skirts and mint juleps.

— virgie townsend, Harper's BAZAAR, "I Am a Descendant of Slaveholders. Charlottesville Demands My Honesty About White Supremacy.," 17 Aug. 2017
The alt-right apologists in the White House have been at war with the saner members of Team Trump, such as the national security adviser, Gen. H.R. McMaster.

— trudy rubin, Philly.com, "The alt-right mentality in the White House is responsible for Trump's moral failure in Charlottesville," 16 Aug. 2017
At every stage, the Journal and other Trump apologists have leaned heavily on the uncertainty of the facts not yet revealed, while disregarding the importance of every previous defense that has been disproven.

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "Conservatives Confident Trump Is No Longer Lying About Russia," 12 July 2017
Trump apologists from the anti-anti-Trump school aren’t the only ones who dispute that his suspicious behavior is a manifestation of underlying guilt; many on the left do, too.

— brian beutler, New Republic, "Trump Wants Russia to Interfere for Him Again," 7 July 2017
What will such apologists say in this case when the black man is police?

— NOLA.com, "Two men robbed in French Quarter: Comment here," 27 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'apologist.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.