apologizing

verb

present participle of apologize
as in confessing
to express regret for doing or saying something wrong I want to apologize to you for my rude behavior yesterday. We apologize for the mistake and promise that it won't happen again.

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of apologizing The post kicked off with a video of the toddler sporting a towering wig as voices behind the camera could be heard laughing and apologizing. — Catherine Santino, PEOPLE, 28 Oct. 2026 Cena then uploaded a video apologizing to China, speaking in Mandarin. — Bobby Burack Outkick, FOXNews.com, 27 Oct. 2026 Earlier yesterday, Flair posted an Instagram message apologizing to fans attending the Washington State Horror Con in Seattle. — Greg Evans, Deadline, 24 Oct. 2026 Shortly after the report was published, sources debunked it, stating that Harry and Meghan have no intention of apologizing to the royal family. — Allison Degrushe, StyleCaster, 11 Oct. 2026 As Annie was apologizing, the woman with the curls took the bottle from her hand and threw it back anyway. — Literary Hub, 9 Oct. 2026 According to the family, Gualtier also emailed Diane after Daisy's death, apologizing repeatedly. — Brian Maass, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026 Over the past few years, Justin Timberlake has done a lot of apologizing and taking accountability. — Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 6 Oct. 2026 The admittedly nervous executive started Monday’s news conferences by apologizing to the Clippers’ faithful for the aftermath of the Leonard situation. — Joaquin Ruiz, Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apologizing
  1. confessing
  2. excusing
  3. explaining
  4. justifying
Verb
  • Williams sort of took Sam’s advice about confessing her feelings to Eleanor and almost instantly regretted it, so that could get very messy very quickly.
    — Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 5 Nov. 2026
  • Another alleged confession came in February 2016, when an undercover operative, reportedly working on behalf of RadarOnline and the National Enquirer, secretly filmed van der Sloot in a Peruvian prison confessing to Natalee’s murder.
    — Lynsey Eidell, PEOPLE, 4 Nov. 2026
Definition of confessing
Verb
  • Party leaders have to stop excusing the inexcusable and police our side of the aisle—or voters will continue to police it for us.
    — Caroline Linton, CBS News, 5 Nov. 2026
  • But the series’ choice to humanize the villain without excusing her actions was intentional, Thornton explains.
    — Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of excusing
Verb
  • Students who were comfortable explaining concepts suddenly hesitated.
    — Washington Post, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2026
  • However, replacing the standard cosmological model, known as Lambda–Cold Dark Matter (ΛCDM), requires more than explaining unusual galaxies.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 8 Nov. 2026
Definition of explaining
Verb
  • Students can, and should, ask themselves at what point the additional health benefits stop justifying the costs in time and money.
    — John Alexander, Popular Science, 1 Nov. 2026
  • The centerpiece of the policy originally was his use of a 1977 law to declare America's longstanding trade deficits a national emergency, justifying double-digit tariffs on almost every country on Earth.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of justifying

Browse Nearby Words

apologizes
apologizing
apologue
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Apologizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apologizing. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of wabi-sabi

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Old-Timey Vehicles

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All