apologies

noun

plural of apology
as in excuses
an explanation that frees one from fault or blame her standard apology for her chronic tardiness is the ever-present congestion on the highways

Synonyms & Similar 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 apologies With apologies to Shelley, maybe designers are the unacknowledged poets of the world. — Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2026 With apologies to Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, Tom Holland is our greatest teenage Spider-Man. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 31 July 2026 For more than a decade, Charli XCX was a secret weapon, a brazen experimentalist, a raw diarist, and (apologies to Chappell Roan) your favorite artist’s favorite artist. — Caryn Ganz, Rolling Stone, 23 July 2026 The Galway County Council and the Bon Secours Sisters have issued formal apologies, according to the BBC. — Ben Brachfeld, PEOPLE, 22 July 2026 Being asked to name my favorite book of all time feels like way too much pressure (apologies to the asker, this newsletter’s editor). — Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 15 July 2026 Her rebuke comes as Caribbean leaders meet under the Caricom bloc and launch a new slavery reparations manifesto, pressing Britain for apologies, debt cancellation and other measures long resisted in London. — Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2026 With apologies to Orwell, the prospect of a painful illness fills me with less dread than a blank page. — Rose Horowitch, The Atlantic, 8 July 2026 Did anyone else cheer at their TV screen when a distressed Paula walked up to her apartment building, only to find Rudy and Geri there offering help and apologies? — Erin Qualey, Vulture, 8 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for apologies
  1. excuses
  2. justifications
  3. reasons
Noun
  • Kiffin understands that excuses aren’t going to fly, even if some are valid about recruiting during a time when coaches were traveling back and forth from Oxford to Baton Rouge.
    — Trey Wallace OutKick, FOXNews.com, 5 Aug. 2026
  • The Galliano incident had nothing to do with Israel or the kinds of excuses some people are using today for antisemitism.
    — Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of excuses
Noun
  • At the center lies carceral safety politics—logics that turn fears of violence into justifications for punitive responses.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 Aug. 2026
  • His shows were cancelled for what writers for Ynet and Haaretz considered questionable reasons, among them alleged pressure from Netanyahu’s allies, although the networks involved named other justifications, including financial ones.
    — Bernard Avishai, New Yorker, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of justifications
Noun
  • Someone who bought a Powerball ticket at a Front Range grocery store this week has many, many reasons to celebrate – 500,000 reasons before tax, to be exact.
    — Katie Langford, Denver Post, 12 Aug. 2026
  • Maresca knows that some players need a fresh start for various reasons, which is why James Trafford moved on, despite his close relationship with the Italian from their time together in the under-23s.
    — Sam Lee, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of reasons

Browse Nearby Words

apologiae
apologies
apologize
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Apologies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/apologies. Accessed 18 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on apologies

Nglish: Translation of apologies for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of oxymoron

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

Is “GIF” Pronounced “Jiff” or “Giff”?

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
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
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All