compliment

Pluralcompliments

Formscompliments, complimenting, complimented

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A remark or other expression of praise, congratulation, or respect directed at someone.

   He paid her a compliment on her speech, and she blushed.

   Coming from a chef that famous, the review was the highest compliment the restaurant could hope for.

   Similartribute, accolade, commendation

   Oppositeinsult

   Note

   The word came through French, Italian and Spanish from cumplir, "to do what is proper", so a compliment began as the courtesy owed rather than praise freely given. Shakespeare's "customary compliment" still has that ring of ritual greeting. It is a doublet of complement, a twin from the same Latin source, which is why the two spellings are so easily confused.

2. 2
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To express praise or a favorable opinion, whether to a person directly or about them.

   The judges complimented the young pianist on her control of the slow movement.

   Some managers criticize freely but rarely compliment, and their teams notice.

   Similarpraise, commend, congratulate, flatter

   Oppositeinsult

   Note

   The verb was borrowed later, from French complimenter, and it works with or without an object: you can compliment a pianist, or simply be someone who rarely compliments. Matthew Prior in 1718 advises monarchs to "compliment their Foes", a reminder that the verb has long carried a shade of flattery for advantage. Its plain opposite is insult.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   Language that is complimentary in general, whether polite courtesy or flattery.

   The ambassador's reply was a page of elaborate compliment that committed his government to nothing.

   Coaches who deal in empty compliment soon find their players no longer listen.

   Similarflattery, praise

   Oppositecriticism

   Note

   Used without an article, the noun names a manner of speaking rather than a single remark: courtesy laid on, often with a hint that it is hollow. George Eliot's Middlemarch sets "absurd compliment" against a real appeal to the understanding. A useful check: with a or the in front, you are reading a single remark of praise; without them, this broader, more doubtful sense.

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