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



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Word of the Day

4 February 2025

DISKETTE

(noun) a small plastic magnetic disk enclosed in a stiff envelope with a radial slit; used to store data or programs for a microcomputer; “floppy disks are noted for their relatively slow speed and small capacity and low price”


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Coffee Trivia

An article published in Harvard Men’s Health Watch in 2012 shows heavy coffee drinkers live longer. The researchers examined data from 400,000 people and found out that men who drank six or more coffee cups per day had a 10% lower death rate.

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