- apology
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/euh pol"euh jee/, n., pl. apologies.1. a written or spoken expression of one's regret, remorse, or sorrow for having insulted, failed, injured, or wronged another: He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.2. a defense, excuse, or justification in speech or writing, as for a cause or doctrine.3. (cap., italics) a dialogue by Plato, centering on Socrates' defense before the tribunal that condemned him to death.4. an inferior specimen or substitute; makeshift: The tramp wore a sad apology for a hat.[1400-50; earlier apologie, late ME apologe ( < MF) < LL apologia < Gk; see APOLOGIA]
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In literature, an autobiographical form in which a defense is the framework for discussion of the author's personal beliefs.Examples include Plato's Apology (4th century BC), in which Socrates answers his accusers by giving a history of his life and moral commitment, and John Henry Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864), an examination of the principles that inspired his conversion to Roman Catholicism.* * *
autobiographical form in which a defense is the framework for a discussion by the author of his personal beliefs and viewpoints. An early example dating from the 4th century BC is Plato's (Plato) Apology, a philosophical dialogue dealing with the trial of Socrates, in which Socrates answers the charges of his accusers by giving a brief history of his life and his moral commitment. Such an apology is usually a self-justification. Among the famous apologies of Western literature are Apologie de Raimond Sebond (1580), an essay by Montaigne (Montaigne, Michel de), who uses a defense of the beliefs of a 15th-century Spaniard as a pretext for presenting his own skeptical views on the futility of reason; An Apology for the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Comedian (1740), in which the 18th-century English actor-manager answers his critic Alexander Pope with a summary of the achievements of his long career that is also one of the best theatrical histories of the period; and Apologia pro Vita Sua (1864; later retitled History of My Religious Opinions), in which John Henry Newman (Newman, John Henry) examines the religious principles that inspired his conversion to the Roman Catholic church.* * *
Universalium. 2010.