apologist

American  

[uh-pol-uh-jist] / əˈpɒl ə dʒɪst /

noun

1. a person who makes a defense in speech or writing of a belief, idea, etc.

2. Ecclesiastical.

   1. Also apologete a person skilled in apologetics.

   2. one of the authors of the early Christian apologies in defense of the faith.

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apologist British  

/ əˈpɒlədʒɪst /

noun

1. a person who offers a defence by argument

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Etymology

Origin of apologist

First recorded in 1630–40; either from apolog(y) ( def. ) + -ist ( def. ) or from French apologiste

Example Sentences

Ms. Jackson is no apologist—her James has flaws aplenty—but where prior historians offered snide caricature, she portrays a complex leader who was “intelligent, resilient, idiosyncratic, irascible, guileful and witty.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Her conclusion was startling, her tone defiant: “Put me wherever you want: misguided socialist, toothless humanist, naïve novelist, useful idiot, apologist, denier, ally, contrarian, collaborator, traitor, inexcusable coward.”

From Los Angeles Times

But these bull-market apologists are laboring under a fundamental misunderstanding of bubbles: They don’t trace to weak earnings per se, but to how far ahead of those earnings the market rises.

From MarketWatch

Müller is also heard being sympathetic to her off camera, proof our foremost Hitler apologist had no problem, decades later, making new allies.

From Los Angeles Times

I’m a dine-in theater apologist myself, but even I draw the line at most full meal offerings.

From Salon