Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
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
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
8 October 2024
HEMLOCK
(noun) poisonous drug derived from an Eurasian plant of the genus Conium; “Socrates refused to flee and died by drinking hemlock”
Coffee Trivia
