applauding

Pluralapplaudings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of applaud.

   The audience was still applauding as the curtain slowly fell.

   Applauding warmly, the guests welcomed the honoree to the podium.

   Note

   Both meanings of applaud live in this form: the literal clapping (the crowd kept applauding) and the broader praise (critics applauding the decision). The verb works with or without an object, so the -ing form can stand alone or take one directly: applauding the cast, applauding loudly. The same spelling is also a noun for the act itself, which has a plural, applaudings.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act or sound of clapping hands to express approval or appreciation.

   The applauding swelled as the dancers took their final bow.

   A wave of applauding filled the hall when the winner was announced.

   Similarapplause, clapping, cheering, ovation

   Oppositebooing, jeering, hissing

   Note

   Here the -ing form has become a full noun, one that can be counted and so takes a plural. Rufus Choate's Address on Kossuth and Non-Intervention (1852) uses it that way, praising "the tribute of tears and applaudings" and "thoughts too deep for applaudings." There the plural stands beside tears as a separate act of tribute. Used without a plural, the noun names the ongoing sound. In the plural, it names individual outbursts.

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