apologia

American  

[ap-uh-loh-jee-uh] / ˌæp əˈloʊ dʒi ə /

noun

• apologias
  plural

1. an apology, as in defense or justification of a belief, idea, etc.

2. Literature. a work written as an explanation or justification of one's motives, convictions, or acts.

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apologia British  

/ ˌæpəˈləʊdʒɪə /

noun

1. a formal written defence of a cause or one's beliefs or conduct

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• apologias
  plural

Etymology

Origin of apologia

1775–85; < Late Latin < Greek: a speaking in defense. See apo-, log-, -ia

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

apologia apologias

Startling, not because of the writing—which is often repetitive, tediously autobiographical and awash with anticolonial pieties—but because “Slow Poison” is an apologia for Uganda’s Idi Amin, a bloodthirsty tyrant like few others in modern history.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2025

This form of rationalization and denial is embarrassingly evident in a recent apologia by David Brooks, the New York Times’ notion of an ideal conservative.

From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2025

This isn’t meant to be gym shorts apologia.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2023

The bank is nearly a year into an extended apologia for its consumer woes, which at one point included Marcus, a consumer division named after the company’s founder.

From New York Times ● Jul. 19, 2023

Such bereavement, witnessed at close range, makes even the most eloquent apologia for high-risk activities ring fatuous and hollow.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

While most works in this genre read as elaborate apologias, Coates immediately strikes a different tone.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 4, 2022

Literary and oratorical apologias for the rebellion were accompanied by a flurry of monuments to Confederate leaders, including those in Statuary Hall.

From Slate ● Jan. 12, 2021

All the characters wind up presenting their own apologias, often with descriptions of pasts that explain their present.

From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2018

Twitter was similar; my stream, for a day or so, was all impassioned maxi dress defenses and apologias.

From The Guardian ● May 14, 2015

Victory and Reasonableness.—Unfortunately in the æsthetic wars, which artists provoke by their works and apologias for their works, just as is the case in real war, it is might and not reason that decides.

From Human, All-Too-Human, Part II by Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm