congratulate
Formscongratulates, congratulating, congratulated
- 1To express your shared pleasure or joy to someone over a happy event or achievement of theirs.
I want to congratulate you on your well-deserved promotion.
The coach congratulated each player after the championship win.
Similarcompliment, commend, praise, salute, applaud
Oppositecriticize, commiserate
Note
Latin built the shared feeling into the word: con- 'with' plus grātulor 'to rejoice', from grātus 'pleasing'. At root, to congratulate is to rejoice with someone, which is why the joy belongs to them and you are joining it. The occasion follows on, either as a noun or an -ing form: congratulate Dave and Lisa on their wedding, or on getting married. English borrowed it in 1548.
- 2To regard oneself as fortunate in some matter.
I congratulate myself on having left the party before the storm hit.
He quietly congratulated himself for selling the stock at the right moment.
Similarpride, credit, praise, applaud, flatter
Oppositeblame, reproach, berate
Note
Here the verb turns inward and always takes a reflexive object: I congratulated myself, he congratulates himself. Unlike the sense of rejoicing with others, nobody else is addressed. The pleasure stays private, usually at one's own luck or good judgment. The matter still follows on, as a noun or an -ing clause: on the success of my plan, on having left before the storm.
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Origin
First attested in 1548, borrowed from Latin congrātulātus, the perfect active participle of grātulor ('to wish joy, rejoice with; to congratulate'). This came from con- plus grātulor, itself from grātus ('grateful, pleasing, agreeable, beloved').