apologetic
/əpɒləˈdʒɛtɪk
/adjective
1Expressing or showing regretful acknowledgement of an offence or failure: she was very apologetic about the whole incident an apologetic smile...
- The typist smiles to himself as the story returns like an apologetic lover, penitent, regretful and contrite.
- Defending, the lawyer said his client was apologetic and very much regretted the incident.
- ‘As much as I would love to, I have already made plans, sorry,’ I said, giving him an apologetic smile.
Synonyms
regretful, full of regret, sorry, contrite, remorseful, penitent, repentant, rueful, deprecatory, self-reproachful;
conscience-stricken, red-faced, shamefaced, sheepish, hangdog, ashamed, in sackcloth and ashes
rare compunctious
2Constituting a formal defence or justification of a theory or doctrine: the apologetic proposition that production for profit is the same thing as production for need...
- The apologetic justification of church division has in many cases been a source of heated confessional intolerance.
- There are not several types of sermons, for example, expository, historical, doctrinal, moral, apologetic, and topical.
- Perhaps the most distasteful element of Romance is its attempt to justify its sexual explicitness with these vaguely apologetic ruminations on the mind/body split.
Origin
Late 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 (see apology). The current sense dates from the mid 19th century.