adv. [f. prec. + -LY2.] In apologetic manner; by way of apology.
1649. C. Walker, Hist. Indep., II. 242. These Letters … being Apologetically published for satisfaction of the Souldiery.
1836. Car. Fox, Jrnls. (1882), I. 45. Derwent Coleridge … murmured apologetically, ‘I got that book cheap.’
