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.
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Recent Examples of apologizing
Later the same day, during a pageant welcome event, Itsaragrisil addressed a crowd of onlookers, apologizing to the Miss Universe delegates who could be seen standing behind him.
—
Staff Author, PEOPLE, 7 Nov. 2025
Miss Universe pageant executive Nawat Itsaragrisil has been dismissed after apologizing to Miss Mexico 2025 Fátima Bosch over their tense exchange that went viral, resulting in a walkout by multiple pageant contestants.
—Sydney Bucksbaum, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Nov. 2025
Robby Soave delivers his radar on the Heritage Foundation President apologizing to staffers in the organization for defending Tucker Carlson's interview of Nick Fuentes.
—The Hill, 6 Nov. 2025
Mamdani tried to moderate his positions in the waning weeks of the campaign, appearing on Fox News and apologizing to police officers for once labeling the NYPD as racist, wicked and corrupt.
—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 4 Nov. 2025
Huda issues an apology after downplaying the incident After initially downplaying the outrage over her reaction, Mustafa posted another statement on Wednesday publicly apologizing to Carthen.
—Taylor Ardrey, USA Today, 31 Oct. 2025
All of it comes after a new email leaked showed Fergie apologizing to Epstein for publicly disowning him and Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl, detailing her abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and her encounters with Andrew.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 29 Oct. 2025
But Cate gets almost no attention outside the nice sequence of Marie apologizing and healing her.
—Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2025
And don’t spend the evening apologizing or hiding in the kitchen.
—Alesandra Dubin, Southern Living, 21 Oct. 2025
Staff Author, PEOPLE, 7 Nov. 2025
Miss Universe pageant executive Nawat Itsaragrisil has been dismissed after apologizing to Miss Mexico 2025 Fátima Bosch over their tense exchange that went viral, resulting in a walkout by multiple pageant contestants.
—Sydney Bucksbaum, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Nov. 2025
Robby Soave delivers his radar on the Heritage Foundation President apologizing to staffers in the organization for defending Tucker Carlson's interview of Nick Fuentes.
—The Hill, 6 Nov. 2025
Mamdani tried to moderate his positions in the waning weeks of the campaign, appearing on Fox News and apologizing to police officers for once labeling the NYPD as racist, wicked and corrupt.
—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 4 Nov. 2025
Huda issues an apology after downplaying the incident After initially downplaying the outrage over her reaction, Mustafa posted another statement on Wednesday publicly apologizing to Carthen.
—Taylor Ardrey, USA Today, 31 Oct. 2025
All of it comes after a new email leaked showed Fergie apologizing to Epstein for publicly disowning him and Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl, detailing her abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and her encounters with Andrew.
—Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 29 Oct. 2025
But Cate gets almost no attention outside the nice sequence of Marie apologizing and healing her.
—Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2025
And don’t spend the evening apologizing or hiding in the kitchen.
—Alesandra Dubin, Southern Living, 21 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apologizing
Verb
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The victim’s grandson, 17-year-old Jadynn Hamilton, was arrested and charged in connection with her death that evening after allegedly confessing to the crime, per the outlets.—
Toria Sheffield,
PEOPLE,
2 Nov. 2025
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Nickerson was immediately terminated after confessing to the behavior, McKinzie wrote in an email to the congregation at the time.—
Lillie Davidson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
17 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Some Republicans and Democrats criticized Vance’s response for excusing or downplaying the nature of the chat messages.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Oct. 2025
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Celebrating or excusing violence is abhorrent.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
21 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The leader of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization that fights antisemitism, is explaining his group's decision to set up a special project to monitor Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City.—
NPR,
NPR,
7 Nov. 2025
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Ukraine knows about the value of culture as soft power and spends a lot of money explaining to the world what’s going on in their country.—
Annika Pham,
Variety,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Judge Ellis found that Bovino wasn’t hit in the head with a rock prior to deploying tear gas despite claims from the Department of Homeland Security justifying the use of force.—
Bill Kirkos,
CNN Money,
6 Nov. 2025
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While working on the project, costs ballooned unexpectedly—reaching well over six figures—and this doctrine became an important reminder when justifying the expenses.—
Michelle Duncan,
Architectural Digest,
31 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Apologizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apologizing. Accessed 11 Nov. 2025.
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