applauds

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of applaud.

   The audience applauds warmly as the soloist takes a final bow.

   The committee applauds the proposal but questions how it will be funded.

   Note

   The everyday form, and the one a reader will almost always meet. It works with or without an object (the crowd applauds; she applauds the decision), and it covers both literal clapping and praise in words, so a critic who applauds a policy has not necessarily lifted a hand. The same spelling also serves as the obsolete noun plural, but in modern prose it is the verb.

2. 2
   nounobsolete

   Plural of applaud. Obsolete.

   Note

   A plural from a noun that has fallen out of use: applaud once meant applause itself, or a single plaudit, and applauds counted those outbursts of approval. Today applause does that job without being counted, and plaudits covers separate acts of praise. When reading older texts, take applauds as "rounds of applause." In your own writing, reach for one of the modern words instead.

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