apologize for the mistake

Meaning

To express regret or say sorry for an error or accident that you caused. It is a polite and professional way to take responsibility for a slip-up, commonly used in customer service, emails, and daily interactions.

Examples

• I sincerely apologize for the mistake on your invoice.

  I sincerely apologize for the mistake on your invoice.

• We apologize for the mistake and will send a replacement immediately.

  We apologize for the mistake and will send a replacement immediately.

• You don't need to apologize for the mistake; it was an easy one to make.

  You don't need to apologize for the mistake; it was an easy one to make.

• He called the client to personally apologize for the mistake.

  He called the client to personally apologize for the mistake.

• Please accept our letter to formally apologize for the mistake made by our team.

  Please accept our letter to formally apologize for the mistake made by our team.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ I apologize about the mistake.

  ✓ I apologize for the mistake.

  While 'apologize about' is sometimes heard in very casual speech, the standard, grammatically correct preposition to use after apologize is 'for' when stating the reason.

• ✗ I apologize the mistake.

  ✓ I apologize for the mistake.

  'Apologize' is an intransitive verb in this context and requires the preposition 'for' before the noun representing the error.

Related Expressions

Practice

• I want to ___ in the report; I will fix it now.

  💡 Say sorry for the error.

  Show answer

  apologize for the mistake

• Did the company ___ they made on your bill?

  💡 Express regret for their error.

  Show answer

  apologize for the mistake