compliment
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
a polite or kind remark you say to someone to show you admire them.
an expression of praise, congratulation, or respect directed toward an individual.
Simple“He paid her a lovely compliment on her new hairstyle.”
In context“Accepting a compliment with grace can be difficult for those who are naturally modest or self-critical.”
UsageCommonly used with the verb 'pay' as in 'to pay someone a compliment'.
PitfallThe wine was a nice compliment to the meal. The wine was a nice complement to the meal.Use 'compliment' for praise. Use 'complement' (with an 'e') when two things go well together.
compliment vs complement — Compliment is a polite expression of praise, while complement is something that completes or improves another thing.
“I was thinner than some popular celebrities at the time and had received so many compliments.”
“His compliments about that actor, though, could plainly be applied to him, too.”
Borrowed from French compliment, itself a borrowing of Italian complimento, which in turn is a borrowing from Spanish cumplimiento, from cumplir (“to comply, complete, do what is proper”) + -miento or Latin complēmentum. Doublet of complement. Displaced Old English ġeswǣsnes.
Borrowed from French complimenter, from compliment + -er (verb-forming suffix).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.