applaud
Americanverb (used without object)
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to clap the hands as an expression of approval, appreciation, acclamation, etc..
They applauded wildly at the end of the opera.
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to express approval; give praise; acclaim.
verb (used with object)
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to clap the hands so as to show approval, appreciation, etc., of.
to applaud an actor; to applaud a speech.
-
to praise or express approval of.
to applaud a person's ambition.
verb
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to indicate approval of (a person, performance, etc) by clapping the hands
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(usually tr) to offer or express approval or praise of (an action, person, or thing)
I applaud your decision
Other Word Forms
- applauder noun
- applauding adjective
- applaudingly adverb
- overapplaud verb
- reapplaud verb
- self-applauding adjective
- unapplauded adjective
- unapplauding adjective
- well-applauded adjective
Etymology
Origin of applaud
1530–40; < Latin applaudere, equivalent to ap- ap- 1 + plaudere to clap the hands
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I applaud the SEC’s willingness to revisit its rules and to retrospectively evaluate the costs and benefits of its regulations—a practice to be admired and emulated.
From Barron's
Shah said he "applauded" Turness for doing the "honourable and proper" thing and stepping down as CEO of News, but said he did not think "that meant that the director general had also to resign".
From BBC
These were heartily applauded in the plenary halls – but their legal standing is uncertain.
From BBC
A fiction writer herself, she applauds Austen’s minimalism.
The National Restaurant Association also applauded the tariff exemption on selected agricultural products, saying in a statement that the move “will help stabilize supply chains and ease cost-pressures for restaurants and their customers.”
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
