"apologizing" in the verb sense
1. apologize, apologise
acknowledge faults or shortcomings or failing
"I apologized for being late"
"He apologized for the many typoes"
2. apologize, apologise, excuse, rationalize, rationalise
defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning
"rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior"
"he rationalized his lack of success"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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