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

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Etymology

Origin of apologia

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

apologia apologias

This doesn’t mean that “Medea” is an apologia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026

In no episode has Kelly made this clearer than in the one that ran on Nov. 12, in which she toyed with a bit of Jeffrey Epstein apologia.

From Slate ● May 6, 2026

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

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

Anyway, aren't all those apologias wearing thin as Arctic sea ice melts with startling, planet-changing speed?

From The Guardian ● Apr. 8, 2013

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 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

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