抱歉 vs. 对不起 bàoqiàn vs. duìbuqǐ Both 抱歉 and 对不起 are used for apologies. 抱歉 is an adjective and 对不起 is a verb phrase. The meaning of 对不起 is very concrete and it can have an object. It can be used directly to apologize. 抱歉 cannot have an object. (1) 抱歉（对不起），我迟到了。 (2) 他不小心踩到旁边的人的脚，于是马上说：“对不起（抱歉）。” (3) 对于这次的事情，我表示抱歉（对不起）。 (4) 让你受了这么多委屈，我觉得很对不起你。 (5) 不管怎么样你也不能做对不起国家的事情。 抱歉 can function as an adverbial, while 对不起 cannot. (6) 他抱歉地对大家说：“不好意思，让大家久等了。” There's another word "不好意思" . It's gentler than 对不起, 抱歉. When you want to say "excuse me" for something, 不好意思 should be used. For example, when you are leaving a dinner party, you could say: 不好意思，我得走了。(but you can say: "对不起，我得走了" either) When you call someone late at night, you could say: 不好意思，打扰了。。。 strong >对不起>抱歉>不好意思> gentle Anyway, these three words are almost the same. I think 对不起and不好意思 these 2 words we use they quite a lot in daily life

对不起 : I am sorry 抱歉 : sorry or excuse me

For example: If you dropped your colleague's mobile phone in the water and it's broken,then you should say"对不起”（or 很对不起，it means you are very sorry) If you just stepped on your colleague's foot and he doesn't get pain,so you can just say"抱歉”。

both of 对不起 and 抱歉 is used to express you did something wrong and you feel sorry for that. but there is a little difference. They differ in degree but not in kind. i mean when you say 对不起，非常对不起，you do something really wrong, you make a big big mistake. maybe some one will suffer the pain by what you did but when you say 抱歉，you just do something not right.we cannot call thst a mistake or fault, but we also think that is not proper. but no one gonna hurt .such as, you promise to bring something to you friend, but you forgot because you are hurry today. you may say 抱歉，我明天再给你（ i will bring to u tomorrow) however, you can increase the degree by add 很，or 非常，特别 before 抱歉和对不起. 非常对不起>=很对不起>非常抱歉>=很抱歉>=对不起>抱歉 hope that helpful!

“抱歉”is more formal