apologize
v.v. to say that you are sorry for doing something wrong or for causing a problem. You do this to show you regret your actions.
v. to express regret or remorse for a fault, failure, or insult. Intransitive in modern usage, requiring a prepositional phrase to indicate the recipient or the cause.
I apologize for being late to the meeting.
The company had to apologize publicly after their website crashed during the holiday sale.
The diplomat was forced to apologize on behalf of his government to prevent the minor border dispute from escalating into a full international crisis.
From apology + -ize, from ἀπολογία (apología, “a speech in defense”), from ἀπολογέομαι (apologéomai, “to speak in one’s defense”), from ἀπόλογος (apólogos, “an account, story”), compound of ἀπο- (apo-, “from, off”) and λόγος (lógos, “speech”); compare also ἀπολογίζομαι (apologízomai, “to render an account”).
The verb is intransitive; it takes 'to' for the person being addressed and 'for' for the reason.
I apologize you for my mistakeI apologize to you for my mistakeApologize is intransitive and cannot take a direct object; you must use the preposition 'to' before the person.