CONGRATULATE

compliment, congratulate

(verb) say something to someone that expresses praise; “He complimented her on her last physics paper”

congratulate, felicitate

(verb) express congratulations

preen, congratulate

(verb) pride or congratulate (oneself) for an achievement

pride, plume, congratulate

(verb) be proud of; “He prides himself on making it into law school”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

congratulate (third-person singular simple present congratulates, present participle congratulating, simple past and past participle congratulated)

To express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for.

(reflexive) To consider oneself fortunate in some matter.

Source: Wiktionary


Con*grat"u*late, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Congratulated; p.pr. & vb.n. Congratulating.] Etym: [L. congratulatus, p.p. of congratulari to wish joy abundantly; con- + gratulari to wish joy, from gratus pleasing. See Grateful.]

Definition: To address with expressions of sympathetic pleasure on account of some happy event affecting the person addressed; to wish joy to. It is the king's most sweet pleasure and affection to congratulate the princess at her pavilion. Shak. To congratulate one's self, to rejoice; to feel satisfaction; to consider one's self happy or fortunate.

Syn.

– To Congratulate, Felicitate. To felicitate is simply to wish a person joy. To congratulate has the additional signification of uniting in the joy of him whom we congratulate. Hence they are by no means synonymous. One who has lost the object of his affections by her marriage to a rival, might perhaps felicitate that rival on his success, but could never be expected to congratulate him on such an event. Felicitations are little better than compliments; congratulations are the expression of a genuine sympathy and joy. Trench.

Con*grat"u*late, v. i.

Definition: To express of feel sympathetic joy; as, to congratulate with one's country. [R.] Swift. The subjects of England may congratulate to themselves. Dryden.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

19 June 2025

ROOTS

(noun) the condition of belonging to a particular place or group by virtue of social or ethnic or cultural lineage; “his roots in Texas go back a long way”; “he went back to Sweden to search for his roots”; “his music has African roots”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

The world’s most expensive coffee costs more than US$700 per kilogram. Asian palm civet – a cat-like creature in Indonesia, eats fruits, including select coffee cherries. It excretes partially digested seeds that produce a smooth, less acidic brew of coffee called kopi luwak.

coffee icon