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Definition of apologetic adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

apologetic

adjective
 
/əˌpɒləˈdʒetɪk/
 
/əˌpɑːləˈdʒetɪk/
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  1. feeling or showing that you are sorry for doing something wrong or for causing a problem
    • ‘Sorry,’ she said, with an apologetic smile.
    • apologetic about/for something They were very apologetic about the trouble they'd caused.
    Extra Examples
    • I hope she was suitably apologetic afterwards.
    • Leroy sounded almost apologetic.
    • He was profusely apologetic about the mistake.
    • She was apologetic for taking so long.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • be
    • feel
    • look
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    preposition
    • about
    • for
    See full entry
    Word Originlate Middle English (as a noun denoting a formal justification): from French apologétique or late Latin apologeticus, from Greek apologētikos, from apologeisthei ‘speak in one's own defence’, from apologia, from apo ‘away’+ -logia (see -ology). The current sense dates from the mid 19th cent.
See apologetic in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
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noun
 
 
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