apologia

辩解之词

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

语言学习

2025-06-17

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 17, 2025 is: apologia • ap-uh-LOH-jee-uh  • noun An apologia is a defense especially of one's opinions, position, or actions. // The opinion piece reads like an apologia for the industry's reckless behavior. See the entry > Examples: "Yes, Barbie is a polarizing toy ... but [Greta] Gerwig leaped right to what else Barbie is: a potent, complicated, contradictory symbol that stands near the center of a decades-long and still-running argument about how to be a woman. ... The movie is a celebration of Barbie and a subterranean apologia for Barbie." — Willa Paskin, The New York Times, 11 July 2023 Did you know? As you might expect, apologia is a close relative of apology. Both words come from Late Latin; apologia came to English as a direct borrowing while apology traveled through Middle French. The Latin apologia can be traced back to the Greek verb apologeîsthai, meaning "to speak in defense; defend oneself." In their earliest English uses, apologia and apology meant basically the same thing: a formal defense or justification of one's actions or opinions. Nowadays, however, the two are distinct. The modern apology generally involves an admission of wrongdoing and an expression of regret for past actions, while an apologia typically focuses on explaining, justifying, or making clear the grounds for some course of action, belief, or position.
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  • It's the Word of the Day for June 17th.

  • Today's word is apologia, spelled A-P-O-L-O-G-I-A.

  • Apologia is a noun.

  • And apologia is a defense, especially of one's opinions or position or actions.

  • Here's the word used in a sentence from the New York Times.

  • Yes, Barbie is a polarizing toy,

  • but Greta Gerwig leaped right to what else Barbie is, a potent, complicated,

  • contradictory symbol that stands near the center of a decades-long and still-running argument about how to be a woman.

  • The movie is a celebration of Barbie and a subterranean apologia for Barbie.

  • As you might expect, apologia is a close relative of apology.

  • Both words come from late Latin.

  • Apologia came to English as a direct borrowing, while apology traveled through Middle French.

  • The Latin apologia can be traced back to the Greek verb that means to speak in defense or defend oneself.

  • In their earliest English uses, apologia and apology meant basically the same thing,

  • a formal defense or justification of one's actions or opinions.

  • Nowadays, however, the two are distinct.

  • The modern apology generally involves an admission of wrongdoing and an expression of regret for past actions,

  • while an apologia typically focuses on explaining, justifying,

  • or making clear the grounds for some course of action, belief, or position.

  • With your Word of the Day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.