How to Use apologetic in a Sentence

apologetic

1 of 2 adjective
  • Weiss took the matter up with the school and said the teacher was apologetic.
    — Jeremy Beaman, Washington Examiner, 17 Apr. 2021
  • His tone was elegiac, but not apologetic.
    — Beth Lew-Williams, New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2025
  • Though staff were apologetic, Wolf went along with the request.
    — Jack Beresford, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Aug. 2025
  • Lyons refused to take a breath test at the barracks and was apologetic to the troopers.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 20 July 2021
  • Stevens was apologetic at times on the line with Reneau before her death.
    — The Washington Post, oregonlive, 31 Aug. 2019
  • To his credit, and that of his parents, the boy was polite and apologetic.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 18 Aug. 2025
  • The banks tend to be apologetic, but essentially say their hands are tied.
    — Monika Pronczuk, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2023
  • So Campbell knows what comes next — an apologetic phone call from the league office.
    — Dave Birkett, USA TODAY, 26 Sep. 2021
  • When that failed to quell fan anger, the company’s tone became more apologetic.
    — Nicholas Gordon, Fortune, 20 Jan. 2023
  • Her colleague, a blonde woman, seemed more apologetic.
    — Literary Hub, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Ryan, who doesn’t recall Keith at all, is abashed and apologetic.
    — Charles Isherwood, WSJ, 4 May 2022
  • The driver, who was not identified, got out and was apologetic.
    — Journal Sentinel, 10 May 2023
  • One professor sent her class an apologetic email backing out of plans to teach in person.
    — Nick Anderson, Washington Post, 11 Aug. 2020
  • Alonzo is a courtly looking man with a trim beard and an apologetic bearing.
    — Gene Weingarten, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2021
  • Here, then, is where Twitter’s apologetic language seems most apt.
    — Angela Watercutter, Wired, 16 July 2021
  • Take a firm grip on the leash, lean back as if the dog is about to pull you forward, and tilt your head to one side with an apologetic shrug.
    — Washington Post, 8 Oct. 2020
  • Here, the design is half-heartedly bold and quasi-apologetic.
    — Justin Davidson, Curbed, 16 June 2021
  • The brand was apologetic and paid her for the unexpected overtime.
    — Elizabeth Denton, Allure, 19 Sep. 2023
  • Dick Cheney was never apologetic about his approach to this.
    — Dana Taylor, USA Today, 21 Nov. 2025
  • For that, Waymo was apologetic.
    — John Ramos, CBS News, 3 Mar. 2026
  • This apologetic writer’s hair was a bit wet and disheveled from the shower because of a time-zone mixup.
    — Devon Ivie, Vulture, 11 Dec. 2021
  • About the creation of such empires, Emerson is not apologetic.
    — Mark Edmundson, Harper’s Magazine , 12 Dec. 2022
  • The fact that music, like a lot of things of beauty, can be so torn apart, and stolen from us, by dark forces… Robert was very apologetic.
    — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 28 Dec. 2023
  • Reached by phone, Merrill was both defiant and apologetic.
    — Taylor Seely, AZCentral.com, 21 Aug. 2025
  • The customer emails from Southwest Airlines struck an apologetic tone this week.
    — Dawn Gilbertson, USA TODAY, 15 Oct. 2021
  • Frank Linn is almost apologetic about the name of his pizza, which tells you next to nothing about what will land on your table.
    — Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2020
  • His soldiers had opened fire on her family’s car, yet the officer was apologetic as the soldiers gave them first aid.
    — NBC News, 12 Mar. 2022
  • Hearing his fate, the apologetic bank robber leaned back in resignation and gave the slightest of nods.
    — Dan Barry, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2024
  • Daria said to the dishevelled woman, then threw an apologetic glance at the dogs and hurried to add that the dogs were wonderful, too.
    — Lara Vapnyar, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023
  • The officer talked to the neighbor, who was apologetic and offered to pay the $276 bill.
    — John Benson, cleveland, 29 Jan. 2020

apologetic

2 of 2 noun
  • Sometimes, young players of his profile are quite meek — apologetic for their ability, even.
    — Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, The Athletic, 27 July 2024
  • The servers are super kind and apologetic and also mention that the apple trees have recently been trimmed to avoid this sort of fun surprise.
    — Bon Appétit Contributor, Bon Appétit, 20 Oct. 2023
  • That is an apologetics for white supremacy, an ideology with a long legacy of violence.
    — Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 23 May 2016
  • Her voice was comforting and faintly apologetic; a murmur a person might use to inform a kitten that its illness is terminal.
    — Caity Weaver, New York Times, 25 Jan. 2025
  • An apologetic Ferrell also reflects on his behavior, and admits to his ignorance of the governor and his policies.
    — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
  • These young people need the church for mentoring, to teach sound biblical doctrine and Christian apologetics like Charlie Kirk did.
    — Monitor Readers, Christian Science Monitor, 26 Oct. 2025
  • As an evangelist, Zacharias focused on apologetics, which is the practice of offering answers to the most difficult moral, philosophical, and ethical challenges to his faith.
    — Anthony Leonardi, Washington Examiner, 19 May 2020
  • Lewis’s writings — his fantasy, science fiction, apologetics, and theological essays — were as diverse as his public personae.
    — Joseph Loconte, National Review, 31 Aug. 2019
  • Soon after, what would normally be a postgame handshake between head coaches became a testy scene in which Falcons coach Arthur Smith could be seen angrily asking an apologetic Allen for an explanation.
    — Brett Martel, USA TODAY, 7 Jan. 2024
  • Bolloré and Bonnassies’s book is part of a burgeoning genre of apologetics that relies on relatively new scientific developments and theories, like quantum mechanics and cosmology, to make an ancient case.
    — Elizabeth Bruenig, The Atlantic, 26 Mar. 2026
  • Farian was a mixture of apologetic and defensive when the Milli Vanilli scandal unraveled in 1990, saying that Americans were overly focused on issues of authenticity in pop music, unlike the rest of the world.
    — A.d. Amorosi, Variety, 23 Jan. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'apologetic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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