apologia

American  

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

noun

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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Etymology

Origin of apologia

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

Example Sentences

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

Instead of this torturous apologia, Lewis could have acknowledged the obvious: He was duped.

From Slate • Oct. 5, 2023

"Red Table Talk" comes close, although is decidedly not a platform for celebrity apologia or a waystation on one's quest for absolution.

From Salon • Oct. 27, 2022

Barely two months after the paper’s owner and publisher, the L.A. empire-builder Harrison Gray Otis, had taken over the paper, he ran this florid apologia for the meager, capricious river:

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 1, 2022

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