apologetic Copy link • apologetic: ăpŏlŏgētĭcus: Tert. (in the title of his Defence of Christianity). Phr.: I have written an a. letter, me per literas excusavi (cf. Cic. Fam. 11, 15): to make an a. speech for any one, excusationem alicujus oratione proponere. (But if the reference be to formally a. works, apologeticus should be preferred.)