apologise
/əˈpɑləˌdʒaɪz/
verb
Common
1.v.defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning
“rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior”
2.v.acknowledge faults or shortcomings or failing
“I apologized for being late”
Loading page
apologise and excuse share a recorded sense, so the question is not what they mean but which one fits. apologise means “defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning”. excuse means “accept an excuse for”. excuse is the more common of the two in everyday English.
/əˈpɑləˌdʒaɪz/
1.v.defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning
“rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior”
2.v.acknowledge faults or shortcomings or failing
“I apologized for being late”
/ɪkˈskjus/
1.v.accept an excuse for
“Please excuse my dirty hands”
2.v.grant exemption or release to
“Please excuse me from this class”
3.v.serve as a reason or cause or justification of
“Your need to sleep late does not excuse your late arrival at work”
| apologise | excuse | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /əˈpɑləˌdʒaɪz/ | /ɪkˈskjus/ |
| Said | uh-PAH-luh-jahyz | ik-SKYOOS |
| Syllables | 4 | 2 |
| Letters | 9 | 6 |
| Parts of speech | verb | verb, noun |
| Senses | 2 | 9 |
| How common | Common | Core |
| Synonyms | apologize, excuse, rationalize | pardon |
Full entry for apologise · Full entry for excuse · More comparisons