Apologisers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who express regret or remorse for a mistake or offense
2. Those who make a formal acknowledgment of wrongdoing, often seeking forgiveness or understanding
3. People who engage in the act of conveying sorrow or making amends for their actions

Etymology: "Apologisers" is the plural of "apologiser", a word built in English from "apologise" plus the agent suffix "-er". The base goes back to Ancient Greek "apología", formed from "apó" (off, away) and "lógos" (speech, argument), so its literal sense was a speech made in defence. Greek legal and rhetorical usage gave the idea of a formal defence before it came to mean saying sorry. That Greek noun passed into Ecclesiastical Latin as "apologia", then into French as "apologie", and reached English as "apology". Originally an apology was a reasoned defence of a belief or action, and the sense of regret was a later development that English speakers gradually adopted. "Apologise" came from the Greek "-ízō" verb ending, passed through Late Latin "-izō" and Middle French "-iser", and was taken into English as a verb. The "-er" ending on "apologiser" comes from Old English "-ere", ultimately via Latin "-ārius", and it marks a person who performs the action, so one who apologises.

Synonyms: defenders, explainers