An apology is the act of telling someone you're sorry for something you did. When you apologize, you're admitting your mistake and showing that you understand how it affected the other person.

A real apology means taking responsibility instead of making excuses. Simply saying the words “I'm sorry” isn't enough; you need to acknowledge what you did wrong and show you understand its impact. If you accidentally knock over someone's art project, a genuine apology acknowledges what happened: “I'm sorry I bumped your project. I wasn't watching where I was going.” That's different from “I'm sorry, but you shouldn't have put it there,” which tries to blame the other person.

The word can also describe a written or spoken statement explaining why something isn't as good as it should be. An author might include an apology at the start of a book explaining its limitations, though this older meaning is less common today. In ancient times, an apology also meant a formal defense of one's beliefs or actions, like Plato's famous work Apology, which records Socrates defending his philosophy.